Tuesday, April 5, 2005, ANRC submitted four draft decisions to public consultation, on its website:

- Draft Decision of the President of the National Regulatory Authority for Communications on the designation of the S.C. „Romtelecom” – S.A. as a provider with significant power on the market of calls to public mobile telephone networks, at a fixed location, for legal persons;

- The draft amendments to the Decisions of the President of the National Regulatory Authority for Communications no.123/2003 on the interconnection with the public mobile telephone network operated by S.C. “Mobifon” – S.A. for the purpose of call termination, no.124/2003 on the interconnection with the public mobile telephone network operated by S.C. “Orange Romania” – S.A. for the purpose of call termination and, respectively, no.147/2002 on the principles and prerequisites of the reference offer for interconnection with the public fixed telephone network, in order to impose, starting with January 1, 2007, the obligation of cost-orienting the tariffs related to the provision of interconnection services for the purpose of international call termination by the significant market power providers of public fixed and mobile networks.

The decision on the designation of S.C. “Romtelecom” S.A. as a provider with significant power on the market of calls to public mobile telephone networks, at a fixed location, for legal persons, has been postponed following the comments received during the consultation procedure and the debates of the Consultative Council meeting held on November 15, 2004. ANRC considered suggestions submitted by certain providers, and agreed to analyse additional, further detailed market data, which could enable an accurate evaluation of the impact on the competitive environment in the market of alternative solutions based on the use of E1 flows or GSM interfaces, offered by the providers of public mobile telephone networks.

Therefore, on the date of conducting the additional market analysis, there were 16 providers who offered call services, at fixed locations, to public mobile telephone networks in Romania, which may indicate the effectiveness of the competition. Nevertheless, the market share of S.C. “Romtelecom” S.A., calculated as per traffic volume, exceeds 80%, while the market shares calculated as per revenue resulted from the provision of these services, as well as per number of corporate subscribers, exceed 90%, which is definitely higher than the other competitors’ market shares. Romtelecom’s market share, exceeding 40%, in addition to the analysis of the additional criteria mentioned in the Explanatory Memorandum to the Draft ANRC President’s Decisions on the designation of the providers with significant power on the specific relevant retail markets identified by the ANRC President’s Decision no.1124/2004, triggered the proposal to designate S.C. Romtelecom S.A. as a provider with significant power on the market of calls to the mobile public telephone networks, at fixed locations, for legal persons.

The amendments to the decisions regarding the interconnection with the mobile public networks operated by S.C. Mobifon S.A. and S.C. Orange Romania S.A. for the purpose of call termination and to the decision regarding the principles and prerequisites of the reference offer for interconnection with the public fixed telephone network are salient requirements with a view to imposing the obligation of cost-orienting the tariffs related to the provision of interconnection services for the purpose of international call termination by the significant market power providers of public fixed and mobile  networks. By these amendments, ANRC further details and completes the regulatory framework in the field; thus, starting with January 1, 2007, the providers with significant power on this market have the obligation of cost-orientation as regards the tariffs for international call termination.

It is essential that the operators with significant market power level their tariffs for call termination, irrespective of the geographical area of call origination (national or international), in the context of Romania’s accession to the European Union, taking into account the fact that there is no difference between the termination costs of the calls originated inside or outside the borders of Romania. Moreover, a unique tariff for the termination of both national and international calls will stimulate innovation and investments, facilitating the development of innovative business models and the provision of flexible service packages (e.g. VoIP services) and encouraging competition on the market of transit services.

In order to limit the possible negative effect of the cost-orientation of the tariff for international call termination on the significant market power providers and, subsequently, on the end-users, ANRC proposes a grace period (until January 1, 2007) so that the significant market power operators could carry out the obligation of cost-orienting the tariffs for international call termination, according to their preferences in terms of social benefits and of tariff reduction choices.

The draft decisions of ANRC are available for consultation on the authority website. All interested persons are invited to send their recommendations and comments until May 9, 2005. Comments and recommendations may be submitted by mail to the ANRC headquarters: 14 Libertatii Blvd., Sector 5, Bucharest, as well as directly to the ANRC registration office or to the territorial offices of ANRC. Comments may also be sent by fax at: +40 21 307 54 02 or by e-mail at: consultare@anrc.ro.