The quality of service provided at the wholesale level takes on added importance because of the repercussions it has on the service provided by alternative operators to the end-user; as such, to ensure competitive conditions and services which best fulfil the needs of end-users, it is essential to define suitable levels of quality of service at wholesale level and properly measure this quality.
To this purpose, the wholesale reference offers include quality of service indicators and parameters, respective minimum levels of performance for each of these indicators and compensation in the event that accomplished quality falls short.
In previous years, ICP-ANACOM intervened on various occasions with regard to reference offers, giving PTC additional incentives to respond to requests from OSP as quickly as possible1, setting out increased compensation for failures to comply with quality targets set in the reference offers; ICP-ANACOM also stipulated improved objectives and streamlined compensation allocation procedures.
In 2012, ICP-ANACOM's intervention with regard to the level of quality of service provided under the reference offers focused on fault repair times, given that the occurrence of faults is one of the most important factors affecting customer satisfaction with contracted electronic communications services, both in terms of FTS and in terms of Internet Access Service (IAS), and is the main type of complaints received by ICP-ANACOM's public attendance service.
As such, through its decision of 28 March 2012, ICP-ANACOM adopted the final decision on procedures to be followed in assessing quality of service of regulated wholesale offers, determining that PTC change the various reference offers which include fault repair deadlines (RUO, LLRO, RELLO, Rede ADSL PT and WLRO), establishing conditions which are more suited to the needs of the market, and ultimately, the needs of end-users.
This decision covered various aspects of these wholesale offers requiring improvement, especially the clear definition of the terms of the fault repair service, including the calculation of repair times, with a clearly defined beginning and end of the fault repair process, as well as allocation of responsibility in the process; the inclusion of a mechanism for joint interventions, allowing the joint attendance by technicians from both companies on-site to better check and repair faults; and rapid reporting to beneficiaries of faults affecting various accesses on the same cable.
The offers in question were amended accordingly, and ICP-ANACOM's determination is already showing results, with a drop reported in the number of complaints from beneficiaries of wholesale offers in relation to the fault repair process.
1 For example, requests for installation and repair of services.
- 4.1. Reference interconnection offer (RIO) https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=352874
- 4.2. Reference Unbundling Offer (RUO) https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=352885
- 4.3. Rede ADSL PT Offer https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=352886
- 4.4. Leased Lines Reference Offer (LLRO) and Reference Ethernet Leased Lines Offer (RELLO) https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=352887
- 4.5. Reference Duct Access Offer (RDAO) https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=352888
- 4.6. Reference Poles Access Offer (RPAO) https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=352889
- 4.7. Wholesale Line Rental Offer (WLRO) https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=352905
