On 6 October 2008, Eircom Limited (‘Eircom’) launched promotional “TalkTime” bundles that included free calls to Meteor.   Since that launch, the Commission for Communications Regulation (‘ComReg’) has been monitoring average actual usage, average total revenue and average total cost of the TalkTime bundles to ensure that Eircom is meeting its regulatory obligations1.  Based on ComReg’s review of the actual data provided by Eircom, ComReg has today issued a notice of non-compliance to Eircom in relation to its obligation not to unreasonably bundle fixed retail narrowband access, that is, retail line rental, with other retail services.  The notification of non-compliance issued relates to the 1MB and 3MB Family TalkTime bundles only.  The annex includes details of the analysis carried out by ComReg.  ComReg has reserved its position in relation to the other promotional bundles that include free calls to Meteor and will continue to review actual data to ensure that Eircom is meeting its regulatory obligations. Eircom has one month either to respond to the notification of non-compliance issued or to remedy the non-compliance.

See Notice and documents
Source: Comreg
 

The European Commission, taking into account the specific situation of the Dutch market, cleared, in a letter published today, the Dutch telecoms regulator's proposal to impose regulatory obligations on the four largest cable operators in the Netherlands, Ziggo, UPC, Delta and CAIW. These obligations will allow alternative providers of radio and TV ('RTV') signals to compete more effectively with the broadcasting offers over cable. In addition, Ziggo and UPC will have to allow other market parties to sell the formers' analogue radio and TV package, allowing the latter to service consumers. At the same time, the Commission is inviting OPTA to avoid prolonging analogue transmission services as this could lead to inefficient investments and limit the development of innovative digital services and infrastructures. OPTA should implement swiftly and effectively the detailed terms and conditions of the remedies required in order to generate a market structure which is more prone to competitive dynamics.

See Press Release
Source: Europa

Ofcom today published a further consultation on applying spectrum liberalisation and trading to the mobile sector. This consultation is about the future of the spectrum currently used to provide 2G and 3G mobile services in the UK – the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2.1GHz spectrum bands. In particular we are consulting on how we should implement a proposed European Directive and a draft Radio Spectrum Decision that would require the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands to be made available for UMTS (3G) as well as GSM (2G) technologies.

The consultation can be found here
Source: OFCOM

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has assessed 44 carriage service providers and issued formal directions to two providers for non-compliance with the financial hardship provisions of the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code (TCP Code).

Carriage service providers must comply with the financial hardship provisions of the Communications Alliance’s TCP Code when dealing with customers who are experiencing financial difficulties. The assessment was undertaken in response to a request from ACMA’s Consumer Consultative Forum.

The vast majority of providers were found to comply. However, ACMA was not satisfied that two of the providers had formalised financial hardship policies available to their customers on request. Under ACMA’s formal directions, both providers were expected to formalise financial hardship policies by 10 February 2009 or risk Federal Court action.

See Press Release
Source: Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)

Canada  announced the upcoming launch of the redesigned CRTC Web site thereby making changes to better meet the needs of
visitors to crtc.gc.ca and to meet the new standards for federal government Websites. Visit  online for more information on the CRTC Web site revitalization.

The Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology (ictQATAR) has issued a proposed licensing framework document for Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) services on February 9th, 2009 and is seeking comments from interested parties. VSAT is a wireless, satellite-based system that can support organizations, businesses and other groups, with dispersed offices and remote sites, to have internal telecommunications (voice and data) connectivity. It is commonly used by large organizations with multiple or remote locations, such as banks, retail stores and oil and gas companies. Government entities, such as foreign ministries, also frequently utilize VSAT services.

See Press Release
Source: ict Qatar

Incumbent Camtel has cut the price of installation and its monthly charges monthly charges by 25%. In a press statement issued in Yaounde last week, the General Manager of CAMTEL, David Nkoto Emane said that subscribers for private homes will pay CFA 35,775 instead of CFA 47,700. Business customers representing companies, associations, financial institutions, NGOs, etc, will on their part pay CFA 89,440 instead of CFA 119,250.

"To make subscriptions affordable for all Cameroonians, the above charges shall be payable in ten monthly instalments", the statement said, stating that penalty for non-payment of late payment of bills is henceforth fixed at CFA 1,550 instead of CFA 1,789.

See Press Release
Source: Balancingact-africa

The Romanian government's decision in 2008 first to remove the President of the national telecoms regulator and then, after a court ruling suspending this decision, to restructure and rename this authority represents, in the view of the European Commission, a serious violation of the regulator's independence. Following repeated warnings, the Commission today opened an infringement proceeding against Romania by sending a letter of formal notice under Article 226 of the EC Treaty to the Romanian government. EU Telecoms Commissioner Reding spoke yesterday morning on the phone with the recently appointed Romanian Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Mr. Gabriel Sandu, - who had inherited this issue from the previous government - to discuss how the current illegality of the legislation in Romania could be changed in conformity with the letter and the spirit of EU law.

See Press Release
Source: Europa

In a letter published today, the Commission calls on the Bulgarian telecoms regulator, the Communications Regulation Commission (CRC), to take action to further reduce mobile termination rates that operators charge to connect the call of another operator's customer. Termination rates are an important cost element when consumers call a phone connected to another network. They are included in everyone's phone bill and eventually paid by the calling customer. In 2008, mobile termination rates in Bulgaria were, with 15.09 eurocent/minute, the highest in the EU (EU average: 8.7 eurocent/minute). The Commission also asks CRC not to discriminate when setting the level of termination rates between fixed and mobile networks and to apply similar termination rates for mobile calls originating from other mobile and fixed networks.

See Press Release
Source: Europa

The European Commission has informed the Finnish telecoms regulator, Viestintävirasto or FICORA (Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority), of its serious doubts over the compatibility with EU law of its draft regulatory measures on the Finnish wholesale broadband access market. Finland's regulator has not provided enough evidence to justify the deregulation of access to the incumbent operators' broadband networks it proposes, namely that certain geographic markets ready for deregulation show different competitive conditions from the rest of the country. The Commission now has until 5 March 2009 to decide whether the regulator can adopt its proposed measures. The regulator may not adopt the measures until the Commission approves them.

See Press release
Source: Europa

On 4 November 2008, PCCW, a public listed company, announced that its two major shareholders, PCRD (which is connected with Mr Richard Li) and Netcom Group (which is connected with a Mainland state-owned enterprise), were proposing to buyout the public shareholding, resulting in Mr. Li’s connected interests holding 66.67% of PCCW and Netcom Group holding the remaining 33.33%.  PCCW is a telecommunications carrier licensee, and on 26 November 2008, it submitted a formal application for the Authority’s prior consent to the Transaction further to section 7P of the Ordinance. Public consultation on the application ended on 15 December 2008. On 22 December 2008 the Authority consented to the Transaction pursuant to section 7P(7) of the Ordinance, on the basis that the Transaction would not have, or would not be likely to have, the effect of substantially lessening competition in a telecommunications market in Hong Kong. Further to the 23 December 2008 announcement this report sets out the full reasons why consent was granted.
See Report
Source: OFTA

rp20090121.pdf (58,66 KB)