Conditions and procedures for the inclusion of the suspension of the Subscriber Line Resale Offer (SLRO) due to subscriber payment default in the SLRO reference proposal and temporary suspension of service
I - Framework
On 24/05/06, PTC submitted to ICP-ANACOM the conditions and procedures for the inclusion of the suspension of the subscriber line resale offer (SLRO) due to subscriber payment default in the offer's Reference Proposal1, stating that such conditions and procedures would enter into force on 03/07/06. Following a request from ICP-ANACOM, PTC presented the Authority also, on 16/08/05, additional information in this scope, among other elements.
Within this context, ICP-ANACOM, on 04/10/06, clarified PTC on its position concerning the SLRO suspension due to subscriber payment default and the temporary suspension of service. The Proposal must be amended accordingly, pursuant to the following items.
II - Termination of fixed telephone service contracts in case of suspension of the SLRO due to subscriber payment default
Under Determination of 29/04/05 2, which approved the minimum elements to be included in the Reference Proposal as well as the specifications applicable to the beneficiaries, any contact of the subscriber with the companies of the PT Group, as far as the subscriber line is concerned, must be carried out through the beneficiary. The procedure for terminating the fixed telephone service contract must thus be initiated by the subscriber before the beneficiary, which, in its turn, must start the respective termination procedure before PTC. In case the subscriber requests the termination of PTC, this entity must inform the subscriber that the procedure must be started before the beneficiary.
III - Operation of the SLRO suspension due to subscriber payment default
On 13/04/06, ICP-ANACOM informed PTC that, in its view, the companies of the PT Group, where requested by the beneficiary to suspend the SLRO due to subscriber payment default, should completely disconnect the line access on the part of the subscriber under consideration (including the access to all services that may be supported over the line). It is hereby clarified that this view applied to the cases where the beneficiary provided a pre-selection service, and, as such, it concerned the services associated to the fixed telephone service (that is, to local, regional, national and international calls).
In this context, it should be highlighted that, under paragraph 2 of article 52 of Law no.5/2004, of 10 February, the suspension of telephone services due to subscriber payment default must be confined to the service concerned, as far as is technically feasible, except in cases of fraud, persistent late payment or non-payment. In addition, PTC informed that, at retail level, in a situation of suspension of the fixed telephone service due to subscriber payment default: (i) it would only prevent the fixed telephone service, and thus not make any further changes at the level of other services provided over the line under consideration, namely broadband Internet access; and (ii) it would continue charging the subscriber line resale during the suspension period.
Consequently, where the beneficiary requests the SLRO suspension due to subscriber payment default, in situations where the SLRO has been activated based on:
(a) pre-selection, PTC shall only suspend the fixed telephone service at the access under consideration, whether it is provided by PTC or by any other provider, save for access to non-charged calls, namely, calls to the single European emergency call number, until the SLRO suspension is deactivated due to subscriber payment default or to the service extinction;
(b) provision of broadband services, PTC shall suspend only the access to broadband services;
(c) both pre-selection and provision of broadband services, PTC shall suspend the access to the service to which the payment default corresponds (it should be taken into consideration that in the case of “aggregated” offers of several services, this could result in the access to the set of “aggregated” offers being inhibited).
IV - Temporary suspension of the service
There has been found no justification for the provision by PTC of a temporary service suspension at wholesale level, in the scope of the SLRO, in less favourable conditions than those that apply at retail level. Such a practise on the part of PTC would entail a discriminatory behaviour, thus PTC must provide the temporary service suspension at wholesale level in the same conditions practised at retail level.
In particular, in the current conditions, the beneficiary must be able to request the SLRO suspension, free of charge, once a year and for four months at the most (except in situations of absence of the subscriber due to civil or military service commission or employment contract, in which the suspension period corresponds to the duration of absence). Moreover, during the suspension period, the payment of the SLRO monthly charge due by beneficiaries must be suspended, as is the case with PTC subscribers. As the Reference Proposal has laid down, the presentation of documentary evidence in the scope of the temporary suspension of the service must be carried out before the beneficiary, responsible for validating the required documents, which must be conveyed to the companies of the PT Group where they so request.
