Draft Regulation on the quality of the Service of Access to the Public Telephone Network at a fixed location and the Telephone Service at a fixed location
Pursuant to paragraph 1 of article 125 of the Law of Electronic Communications (Law no. 5/2004, of 10 February - REGICOM), it is incumbent upon ANACOM to publish the necessary regulations to the application of the referred law, namely those concerning matters the high detail degree of which does not advise the inclusion thereof in the referred statutory instrument.
Among the Regulations provided for in the mentioned article, the following must be highlighted as regards the quality of service:
1. The Regulation that shall define the quality of service parameters to be measured regarding publicly available electronic communications services, pursuant to paragraph 1 of article 40 of REGICOM; this Regulation must also specify the contents of the referred parameters, as well as the form and manner of information to be published, as provided for in paragraph 2 of that article, and for such purposes the annex to that Law may be followed.
2. The Regulation to be prepared in case ANACOM, pursuant to paragraphs 2 and 4 of article 92 of REGICOM, and aiming at assessing the performance of Universal Service Providers (USP), chooses to specify for these providers quality of service rules in addition to the ones established in paragraph 1 of the same article, that is, parameters set in the annex to REGICOM; this Regulation may also specify, pursuant to paragraph 4 of article 92, the contents, form and manner for the provision of information on these parameters and possible additional rules, in order to ensure that end-users and consumers have access to clear, comprehensive and comparable information.
As regards the Regulation referred to in point 1., the draft comprised in the annex was prepared, considering that:
a) The definition of quality of service parameters for electronic communication services and the determination of the respective contents is a complex task, namely considering the different features of each service and the dynamics of the sector, marked by a constant technical development and the consequent presentation of new offers;
b) In the scope of the Service of Access to the Public Telephone Network at a fixed location and Telephone Service at a fixed location (FTS), given the relevance thereof, a vast study and harmonization work has already been carried out in this field, namely at the level of the European Telecommunications Standard Institute – ETSI, namely at the level of ETSI Guide EG 201 769-1, from which the list of quality parameters included in the annex to REGICOM was drawn out;
c) Prior to the publication of REGICOM, ANACOM had already been developing a proposal regarding quality parameters to be measured by undertakings providing FTS;
d) ANACOM deems appropriate, in light of the above, to develop the Regulation in the Quality of Service (RQS) referred to in point 1. in in different phases, and in an initial stage, this Regulation shall only integrate the quality parameters regarding the FTS;
e) REGICOM provides that the establishment of parameters to be included in this RQS may follow the Annex to that same Law, which however does not present a binding nature;
f) The European Commission acknowledged that Member States may not set the parameters “Uncompleted calls” and “Call set-up time”, provided for in the Annex to REGICOM, considering: (i) the loss of relevance thereof, give the high quality of the digital fixed telephone network and the satisfactory performance of operators in most Member States; (ii) the complexity of the respective measurement process, in particular in the case of the so-called indirect access calls, the gathering of which would be rather expensive to operators;
g) The parameter “Response time for directory enquiry services”, which is also included in the Annex to REGICOM, shall not, for the moment, integrate the RQS mentioned in point 1., which in this initial stage concerns only the FTS, having regard to the fact that, in the scope of the new legal framework, the directory enquiry services may be provided not only by FTS providers but also by entities that do not provide that service;
h) The parameter “Proportion of coin and card-operated public pay-telephones in working order”, also provided for in the Annex to REGICOM, shall not be comprised in the RQS project mentioned in point 1., as the public pay-telephones installation and operation service is not included in the services comprised by the same project at this stage (services of access to the public telephone network at a fixed location and the telephone service at a fixed location);
Pursuant to point b) and n) of paragraph 1 of article 6 and to article 11 of the Statutes in annex to Decree-Law no. 309/2001, of 7 December and in the pursue of assignments provided for in point b) of article 26 of those Statutes, the Board of Directors of ANACOM, under point a) and c) of paragraph 1, point a) of paragraph 2 and point d) of paragraph 4, all of article 5, of Law no. 5/2004, and paragraph 2 of article 40 and paragraph 1 of article 125 of that same Law, hereby determines the following:
(i) The RQS, referred to in point 1. and comprised in the annex hereto, is hereby approved, integrating, for the moment, the quality parameters applicable only to undertakings providing Services of Access to the Public Telephone Network at a Fixed Location and the Telephone Service at a fixed location (FTS);
(ii) To submit the draft RQS referred to in (i) to the regulatory procedure provided for in article 11 of the Statutes of ANACOM;
(iii) Having regard to the significant impact on the market, to submit also the draft RQS referred to in (i) to the general regulatory procedure established under article 8 of REGICOM by the determination of the Board of Directors of ANACOM on 12/02/2004;
(iv) To notify the draft RQS to the entities referred to in article 11 of the Statutes of ANACOM, interested parties being granted a 30-working-day time limit to assess the subject;
(v) Having been pondered the market needs, the development at harmonization level and the regulation objectives to be pursued by this Authority, ANACOM shall continue the analysis already begun, aiming at the integration in the same Regulation, at a later stage, of quality parameters for other Electronic Communication Services;
(vi) The approval of the present draft regulation does not withdraw nor do they prejudice the compliance with parameters and levels of quality of service set up specifically under the law, namely to the USP;
(vii) Notwithstanding the exclusion from the draft regulation hereby approved of the parameters “Uncompleted calls” and “Call set-up time”, ANACOM shall monitor the development of the situation regarding both parameters, namely by means of the assessment of complaints received within that scope;
(viii) The exclusion of the quality parameters “Response time for directory enquiry services” and “Proportion of coin and card-operated public pay-telephones in working order” from the draft regulation hereby approved, which concerns only the FTS, do not alter the fact that the inclusion thereof in the scope of the analysis referred to in (v) may also be assessed.
Consult:
- Consultation document https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=139005
