ANACOM - Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações has rejected a proposal made by PTC to replace the current "Retired and Pensioner Subscriber Plan" and has determined that the incumbent operator continue to offer these subscribers the same conditions as they have been obliged to offer until now.
Accordingly, it is intended that PTC continues to give a 50% discount on telephone line rental to retired and pensioner customers whose household income does not exceed the national minimum wage. PTC may supplement this discount, as a commercial option and as has done until now, with an additional discount of 10% on the analogue access monthly charge and a traffic credit of up to €2.30 (excluding VAT).
The regulator also determines that the 50% discount on the rental of the network line shall be reflected in respect of the SLRO where accesses over these services are provided to retired persons and pensioners.
The regulator's decision also sets out that, within a period not exceeding 30 working days, PTC shall make a proposal for the simplification of the procedures governing the application of the specific conditions to retired persons and pensioners, with the caution, however, that mechanisms shall be maintained to control the abusive use of schemes which are destined solely for specific groups of customers.
The regulator believes that if it had accepted the price plans proposed by PTC, retired and pensioner consumers would suffer worse conditions than those which they have at the moment and therefore considers that this decision is safeguarding the interests of these consumers.
In fact PTC had proposed two alternative pricing plans, which demanded that customers expressly opt in, to replace the conditions currently available. Plan 1 set the line rental charge at 5.064 euros, excluding VAT, national fixed-line telephone calls at 0.041 euros per minute, excluding VAT, and calls made to national mobile networks at 0.248 euros per minute, excluding VAT.
Plan 2 involved a payment of 12.66 euros, excluding VAT, for the line rental but provided free calls to national fixed-line networks.
In both cases, ANACOM considers that the majority of customers covered by the "Retired and Pensioner Subscriber Plan", around 230 thousand people, would be worse off if this current plan was dropped and they took up either of the plans proposed by PTC. The regulator also considers that, in view of the levels of expected use associated with each plan, that they are incompatible with the obligations of non-discrimination and for prices to reflect the costs incurred by PTC.
PTC's decision to discontinue the current "Retired and Pensioner Subscriber Plan" stems from the fact that in its 2007 State Budget the government did not allocate any provision to compensate the operator for the 50% discount for retired and pensioner customers. Previously, PTC had received an annual refund from the State for loss of earnings arising from the application of this discount.
Despite obliging PTC to maintain the current conditions and rejecting the plans put forward by the incumbent, ANACOM, considers that the net costs associated with the 50% discount on telephone line rental for retired and pensioner customers and the 50% discount on telephone line resale reflected in SLRO access in respect of services to these subscribers, will have been taken into account in assessing and calculating the net costs of the universal service.
Consult:
- Specific conditions in the scope of the US for retired people and pensioners who are FTS subscribers https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=485840
