The Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM) has approved a set of changes for PT Comunicações to introduce in its offers for interconnection and access to the local loop. The approved measures aim to lower the prices for services associated with both offers and to streamline and simplify access by new operators to the historic operator's telephone exchanges.
The document drawn up by the regulator is the determination's draft decision, which the operators should comment on within a maximum period of 15 days. After that deadline ANACOM will study the contributions and make a definitive decision.
In the case of local loop, the determination anticipates price cuts with respect to full and shared accesses.
In full accesses, the monthly fee should drop by 13%, from €13.78 to €11.96. This reduction will enable the service to be offered at a price 6% below the community average. The installation price for this kind of access will be €91.40, an amount 4% below the European average.
Likewise, the monthly fee for shared access without installation of a filter at the end user was set at €2.95. In the case of installation of a POTS or ISDN filter at the end user, the monthly fee for shared access will drop to amounts of between €3.39 and €3.57 respectively. Current prices vary between €7.82 and €7.92. The reduction is thus around 55%. The installation price for this kind of access will vary between €35.98 and €183.88.
Besides this price revision, the determination now subject to hearing anticipates the introduction of specific obligations with respect to collocation in both offers: interconnection (Interconnection Reference Offer - RIO) and unbundled local loop access (Reference Unbundling Offer - RUO).
By doing so, Portugal is one of the three community countries to include this obligation in the interconnection offer, along with Belgium and Denmark; and one of the eight to include it in the local loop unbundling offer, along with Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. Note that the applicable prices for collocation were the subject of a specific determination in November 2002.
Among other points, the determination concerns the definition of a set of prices, procedures and deadlines that should be complied with during the process of requesting access and the posterior installation of operators' equipment in PT Comunicações exchanges.
The aim of these obligations is to streamline and simplify the process, by thus removing obstacles to good market functioning.
Definitions
Interconnection between networks is the function that enables two infrastructures from two distinct operators to connect. Without it, for example, it would not be possible for customers of one operator to set up communication with customers of another operator. Interconnection necessarily implies costs for both operators, as well as the installation of equipment.
The Local Loop corresponds to the last segment of the basic telecommunications network, the 'last kilometre', which runs from the local exchange to the customer's domicile. This last segment can be used by the new operators to provide services to end customers, even when the segment is the property of PT Comunicações. This use naturally implies costs and the installation of equipment.
Full access allows operators to have total control over the local loop, in order to simultaneously provide users with voice services and broadband services.
Shared access allows one operator to provide broadband services to the end consumer, using the historic operator's infrastructure, but without affecting the provision of voice service by the latter.
Co-mingling or collocation in an open space regime is the installation of equipment by new operators in the historic operator's exchanges, next to the latter's equipment, thus removing the need to build specific rooms for that purpose and thus the associated costs.
Note
The prices mentioned here do not correspond to the prices that end customers pay, but rather the amounts that operators pay to PT Comunicações to use the latter's infrastructure. They are therefore wholesale prices, although the repercussions are expected to affect the operators' offer to the end customers.
Consult:
- Alterations to be introduced in the RIO 2003 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=418271
