By determination of 7 February 2012, ANACOM has approved the report of the public consultation on the process of designating the provider(s) of the universal service of electronic communications in Portugal, launched by the Government, in coordination with ANACOM, on 16 November 2011.  In the context of this consultation, comments were received from the following entities: APRITEL - Associação dos Operadores de Telecomunicações (Association of Telecommunications Operators), ARTelecom, Cabovisão, DGC - Direcção-Geral do Consumidor (Directorate General for the Consumer), OniTelecom, Optimus, PT Comunicações/TMN, Vodafone Portugal and ZON TV Cabo Portugal. Comments were also received from DECO - Associação Portuguesa para a Defesa do Consumidor (Portuguese Association for Consumer Protection) on 4 January, subsequent to the consultation deadline; since these comments were deemed untimely, they were not given consideration in the report.

Approval was likewise given to the decision on the net costs of the universal service in the framework of the respective tenders and also given to the conditions and specifications governing each of the constituent provisions and the recommendations made to the Government, both with regard to the process of designating the provider(s) of the universal service of electronic communications.

Decision on the conditions and specifications governing each of the provisions constituting the universal service in the context of the process of designating the provider(s) of the universal service of electronic communications

On 16.11.2011, the Portuguese Government, in liaison with ICP-ANACOM, launched a public consultation on the process of designating the provider(s) of the universal service of electronic communications (hereinafter USP consultation), which closed on 30 December 2011.

This consultation included the relevant components (draft tender schedule; draft calls for the presentation of proposals and draft tender specifications) of the three tenders, specifically:

• Tender 1 - Connection to a public communications network at a fixed location and provision of a publicly available telephone service through said connection;
   
• Tender 2 - Provision of public pay-telephones; and
   
• Tender 3 - Provision of a comprehensive telephone directory and of a comprehensive telephone directory enquiry service;

The components submitted to consultation set out the Government's approach to the designation of the provider(s) of the universal service and the conditions that embody the core provisions which the undertaking or undertakings which are so designated will be bound to provide and which have been implemented in a manner which is consistent with determinations taken by ICP-ANACOM in these areas, in proposals put by this Authority or in current practice associated with the provision of the universal service.

In order to simplify the process of designating the USP(s) and in order to provide potential applicants with a global perspective of the obligations whose fulfilment by USP(s) is sought, the specifications of the three tenders submitted to consultation incorporate the draft decisions on the conditions of provision to be established by ICP-ANACOM.

Meanwhile, the statement of reasons issued in respect of the consultation makes provision for the formulation of an opinion to be issued by ICP-ANACOM pursuant to paragraph 4 of article 88 of Law no. 5/2004 of 10 February (LCE), as amended by Law no. 51/2011 of 13 September, which will take into account the views expressed in this consultation with regard to the minimum speeds to be supported by the access network provided under the universal service in order to enable functional Internet access, leading to a final decision by the Government in this regard.

Finally, as stated in last paragraph of the consultation's Statement of reasons, "Taking into account the contributions which it receives, ICP-ANACOM will: a) approve the duly reasoned formulation of the decisions stemming from the powers and responsibilities conferred upon it under the LCE in this respect (...)".

Therefore, in performance of its assignments, as set forth in points b), d) and h) of paragraph 1 of article 6 of its Statutes, as in annex to Decree-Law no. 309/2001 of 7 December, and in furtherance of the objectives of regulation as set out in points a) and c) of paragraph 1, points a) and b) of paragraph 2 and a), e) of paragraph 4, all of article 5 of Law no. 5/2004 of 10 February, as amended by Law no. 51/2011 of 13 September, the Management Board of ICP-ANACOM, giving consideration to the views expressed in the context of this general consultation procedure, does determine, in the exercise of the powers and responsibilities conferred by article 86, paragraph 3, article 88, paragraph 4, article 89, paragraph 5, article 90, paragraph 1, article 91, paragraph 3, article 92, paragraphs 4 and 5, article 93, paragraphs 1 and 3, articles 94 and 95, paragraph 1 of Law no. 5/2004, the following:

• To approve the conditions and specifications of each of the services which constitute the universal service and which, as such, are to be fulfilled by the undertakings as, subsequent to the tender foreseen in article 99 of Law no. 5/2004 will be designated as providers thereof;
   
• To establish that the values of the net costs of universal service provision (CLSU) that result from tenders 1 and 2 are deemed an unfair burden and as such will be subject to financing in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in the tender and the constituting documents of the compensation fund.

1. Backgroundhttp://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=345432

2. Connection to a public communications network at a fixed location and provision of a telephone service through that connectionhttp://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=345434

3. Public pay-telephoneshttp://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=345437

4. Provision of a comprehensive directory and of a comprehensive telephone directory enquiry servicehttp://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=345441

Consult:

Public Consultation on the process of designating the provider(s) of the universal service of electronic communications http://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=344951