Speech given at the taking of office of ANACOM?s board of directors
Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communications
28 June 2006
Minister
Secretary of State
Ladies and Gentlemen
The terms of office to which we have just put our signatures and the oaths of office that we have just taken are not merely acts of protocol. They are an expression of the assumption of a responsibility which we cannot neglect; not even if we wanted to.
This responsibility was conferred upon us by the minister, and we are of course grateful to him for the trust that he has placed in us. In return we affirm, as we have just sworn, our unbending loyalty.
The guarantee of this loyalty is assured by the principle of independence enshrined in a regulatory body such as ANACOM. After all as Simone Weil said, "In all human things, necessity is the principle of impurity?.
As a representative of the Portuguese Government, the Minister can count on our total and loyal support, not only in the performance of our specific regulatory duties, but also, and as set out by ANACOM?s statutes, ?in the definition of strategic guidelines and general policies for communications and the activities of communications operators?.
Nor can it be any other way. Today the communications sector is, without any doubt, absolutely vital for the economic development of society; especially in the context of a new force of globalization, which in our opinion, is being fuelled by the widespread availability of communications.
The novelist Alessandro Baricco said, ?Bad globalization is built with the same brisk as good globalization. The difference is how the bricks are laid.? Assuming that we have the necessary bricks and enough bricks (and this is the first and inevitable step that we must take), we have no doubt that communications will be key in the correct laying of these bricks.
And yet economic development brings always the need to find a balance between the ?growing size of the cake?, a pre-requisite for growth, and the need to share out the cake in a fair way.
In this we also feel comfortable with the role of ANACOM, especially in ensuring universal service; an obligation which must go hand in hand with the developments in communication.
The act of communicating is not reserved for commerce. It is an undeniable expression of citizenship and an indispensable component of a developed and well-balanced society.
This concern for the constant improvement in the performance of citizenship, can be found in the Lisbon Agenda, and is explicitly enshrined in the objectives of the regulation of electronic communication: As paragraph c) of Article 5 of Regicom states: ?To promote the interests of citizens, pursuant to the present law.?
This paragraph sets out, along with two others, a commitment to the pursuit of competition in the provision of electronic communication networks and services and of associated facilities and services (a), and furthermore to the contribution that we must make to the development of the internal market of the European Union (b).
Every regulatory decision that we make must be bound by these objectives. This means that while we are also bound by the statutes to protect the rights of the consumer, the defense of the citizen takes precedence. After all, a citizen is much more than a consumer.
But there is one more key point in these objectives: their reference to the ?promotion of competition? and ?the contribution to the development of the internal market?. This points clearly to the fact that both the internal market and a truly competitive communications sector are ?works in progress? and not finished products.
It is because of this that the need for regulation is justified, seeing that it makes no sense to regulate markets with almost perfect competition.
The regulator needs to pay attention to all these things, and in this, cooperation with Autoridade da Concorrência, the competition authority, is fundamental. This relationship is also set out in the statutes of ANACOM and in Regicom, covering not only the protection of the consumer, but with the bodies of the Union and national regulators, the pursuit of the internal market, while maintaining a constant lookout for the citizen and interests of member states.
ANACOM commits itself to building and strengthening these relationships of cooperation. It does this not only in the spirit of current legislation, which of course must be scrupulously respected, but also because we are convinced that this is the best way to ensure that the decisions taken most contribute to the achievement of our common goals. Goals which after all are those of our society and of the Portuguese citizen.
We understand that at the moment we do not yet have enough knowledge of how the services market works. This is especially true of the communications market with its constant innovation. This means a constant research effort, the fostering of which has to be the common concern of regulators, and calls for the involvement of research bodies and, in particular, those of the higher education system. Indeed our role in nurturing and developing common actions in this field is sacrosanct.
ANACOM must not rest in forming and strengthening ties with these institutions, always keeping in mind the demand that the actions that are developed focus on the interests and objectives of all the organizations involved.
For there to be a truly developed, efficient and secure communications sector, we must have operators with the capability and skills, in true competition, to offer availability, accessibility and reasonably priced services and at the same to improve quality and bring new products and functionality.
When you have a market in which the basic conditions for competition are not yet assured, even though technological developments and the prospect of convergence are starting to make them possible; when you have a market like this, the regulator of the market and undertakings that operate within it must work towards the attainment of these conditions. At the same time the regulator must incentives existing operators and potential entrants to the markets, empowering them with the capability to confront the risks that competition brings in a market undergoing great transformation.
There are two more areas where ANACOM works, perhaps not so well known, but which nonetheless demand special attention. One makes part of the many which make up supervision of the market and the other is connected to the responsibilities of representing the communications sector.
The first is the National System of Civil Emergency Planning. This entails a constant and irrefutable concern on ANACOM?s part with network security and reliability systems, above all in emergency situations.
The second centers on working with other Portuguese speaking countries and providing the technical support so that the Portuguese language, an essential means of communication and cultural expression, can strengthen its place in the world.
Teilhard de Chardin said, in the first decades of the twentieth century, ?The great progress in human thought in modern times is that we have become conscious of time ... We can no longer scientifically understand an object but as a consequence of an endless series of previous states.?
It is with this feeling that we take up our office on ANACOM?s Board of Directors. It is not a beginning. It is a continuation, rooted in its history, that presents an undeniable progression that we wish to honour, without losing sight of the necessary change so obvious in the words of Teillard de Chardin.
And so we wish to show our respect and acknowledge those that we follow, for their considerable accomplishments and for the position of prestige that they have obtained for this institution.
A special word of congratulations must go to the previous Board of Directors, for the work they completed in such challenging conditions.
A word also for the Advisory Council and for the Statutory Audit Commitee: We depend on your forthright opinion and stringent audits for keeping us stuck on our objectives.
ANACOM is an institution where every member of staff counts and every activity contributes equally to our overall performance. Everyone is important, as without the faithful, committed and concerted contribution of every one of us, nothing can be achieved.
We have, all of us, an undeniable obligation: to do better and to be more efficient. How else can we justify our existence and have the necessary legitimacy for our decisions to be acted upon to the benefit of the citizen?
We must participate in the public and national effort to use our resources more wisely and to eliminate inefficiency X (or the inefficiency of organisation) that can endure. We depend on everyone to do this.
Finally, a word for our family and friends who are here with us today: You are the first citizens to judge us. Your support and criticism is always welcome; you can be sure that it will never fall on deaf ears and will keep us always united.
Thank you very much.
