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ANCOM Discusses with Operators about Novelties in the Telecom Field at Brasov
21.06.2012
On Thursday, 21 June 2012, during a meeting with the electronic communications industry in Brasov, the representatives of the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) presented the new provisions of the legal framework in the field, highlighting the way in which these provisions impact the provider–end-user relationship. Data on the Authority’s control activity were also provided during this meeting. The gathering with more than 75 industry representatives from Brasov, Covasna, Dambovita, Harghita and Prahova counties is the eighth from the series of “ANCOM Regional Meetings” to be held in 2012.
The new legal framework in the electronic communications field brought important amendments concerning the contracts concluded with the end-users, the general authorisation of the providers of electronic communications networks and services, the radio spectrum management, the associated numbering resources and technical resources, the security and integrity of the electronic communications networks and services, and the sanctioning regime.
The most important aspects and issues approached today in the discussions with the providers concerned the contracts concluded with the end-users, the security and integrity of the electronic communications networks and services, as well as the licences awarded for the use of radio frequencies. As for the contracts concluded with the end-users, some providers expressed their discontentment regarding the obligation to include in these contracts certain information which they deem are not of interest for the subscribers. The ANCOM representatives explained why the information concerned is relevant and how it will enable the users to take informed decisions. The providers also requested clarifications on the minimum contract duration, as set under the new legislation. The ANCOM representatives stressed the need of transparency in the relationship with the end-users and communicated to the participants that the Authority elaborated a guide for providers which offers details concerning the obligations they have. ANCOM thus wished to support the providers, explaining them which are the correct means of implementation of the legal provisions.
Another tackled topic referred to the security and integrity of the electronic communications networks and services, the providers considering that the security auditing from own resources is an issue, arguing that it would be a burdensome expense, especially in the case of the small providers. The ANCOM representatives announced that two new decisions are to be adopted in this regard, one concerning the conditions and procedure for the reporting of security incidents and the second one relating to the establishment of minimum security measures which must be implemented by the providers. The Authority’s representatives invited the participants to get involved in the elaboration of these decisions and to send their comments when the draft decisions are to be published for consultation.
As regards the radio licensing, the providers addressed questions in relation to the regulation of the free bands. The Authority’s representatives specified that the use of these bands is currently regulated by ANCOM Decision no.1722/2011 and showed that the decisions on the use of the unlicensed bands are taken at European level and then transposed in Romania.
During the same meeting held in Brasov, the ANCOM representatives presented the amendments of the decision on the conditions applicable to the porting of telephone numbers. Thus, the activation term of a ported number is reduced from 3 to maximum one working day, as provided for by the European rules, whereas the related administrative procedures are to be carried out in 3 working days instead of 10. Furthermore, the end-users will be warned by a distinctive tone on the fact that they have called a ported number in all cases where the tariff charged might exceed the tariff they would have legitimately expected.
778,928 numbers were ported as of 31 May 2012, since the portability service was introduced at end-2008. Out of these, 530,853 were mobile telephone numbers, 248,075 fixed telephone numbers (of which 233,374 fixed telephone geographic numbers and 14,701 location-independent numbers - for fixed telephony).
The largest amount of mobile telephone numbers were ported into the networks of the following mobile telephony providers: Vodafone (181,522); Cosmote (176,875); Orange (166,823); RCS&RDS (4,909) and Telemobil (719). As for the fixed telephony providers, most numbers were ported into the networks of UPC (70,193); RCS&RDS (65,400); Orange (46,599); Vodafone (42,808) and Romtelecom (11,744).
As of 31 May 2012, an amount of 5,312 fixed telephone numbers were ported in Braşov (the acceptor provider which ported the largest amount of fixed telephone numbers is Vodafone – 2,796), 654 numbers in Covasna (RCS & RDS – 345), 2,630 numbers in Dambovita (UPC – 1,530), 2,272 in Harghita (UPC – 1,508) and 13,775 in Prahova (UPC – 9,232).
As regards the controls conducted by ANCOM on the providers of electronic communications networks and services and of postal services, between 1 January 2011 and 31 May 2012, ANCOM undertook 548 controls in Brasov which resulted in the transmission of 5 notifications and 1 warning.
The presentations held during today’s meeting are availablehere.
