The Fund Law provides in paragraph 1 of article 7 that “undertakings providing public communications networks and/or publicly available electronic communications services on national territory that, in the calendar year to which the net costs relate, registered an eligible turnover in the electronic communications sector which gives them a weight equal to or higher than 1% of the sector’s overall eligible turnover, shall be liable to contribute to the compensation fund.”
Furthermore, paragraph 2 of this article provides that “the undertaking or undertakings responsible for the provision of the universal service shall also be included among the range of undertakings liable to contribute to the compensation fund, insofar as they have registered an eligible turnover equal to or higher than that referred in paragraph 1.”
Under paragraph 3 of article 7 of the Fund Law, the set of bodies that, though legally separate companies, constitute, by 31 December of the calendar year to which the net costs relate, an economic unit or have interdependence links between them, arising namely from (i) a majority shareholding; (ii) holding more than half the voting rights attaching to shares; (iii) power to appoint more than half the members of the administrative board or of the supervisory board; (iv) power to manage the respective business, shall be deemed to be a single undertaking.
As regards the extraordinary contribution, article 18 of the provides that “undertakings providing, on national territory, public communications networks and/or publicly available electronic communications services shall be required to make an extraordinary contribution to the compensation fund, relatively to each of the years 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016, exclusively intended for the financing of net costs referred to in the preceding article, that are approved by ANACOM in those years.”
Paragraph 2 of this article also provides that “the preceding paragraph shall not apply to undertakings that, in each of the years referred therein, register an eligible turnover in the electronic communications sector that is lower than 1% of the sector’s overall eligible turnover.”
Under paragraph 3 of article 18 of the Fund Law, for the purpose of the extraordinary contribution, the set of bodies that, though legally separate companies, constitute, by 31 December of 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016, an economic unit or have interdependence links arising from relationships mentioned earlier, provided for in paragraph 3 of article 7 of the Fund Law, shall be deemed to be a single undertaking.
It follows from the above that the range of bodies required to contribute to the Compensation Fund, both for the purpose of the financing of CLSU 2015 determined in the scope of tenders for USP, and for the purpose of the financing of CLSU approved in 2015 by ANACOM and which concern 2012 and 2013, is the same.
Article 91 of the Fund Law specifies the calculation required to be made to obtain the weight of companies in the electronic communications sector, so as to identify companies required to make a contribution to the US compensation fund2.
It is stressed also that paragraph 2 of article 93 provides that in the case of companies made up of more than one body, the sum of the eligible turnover of each of the integrating bodies must be considered for the purpose of the calculation of the respective weight in the sector’s eligible turnover. Accordingly, ANACOM sought to find the shareholder structure of several bodies, so as to determine those which constitute a single company under the Fund Law.
In this framework, it was concluded that the following bodies, the shareholder structure of which (Level 1 and 2) is explained below, present an ET equal to or exceeding 1% of the sector’s eligible turnover.
- Cabovisão - Televisão por Cabo, S.A.
|
Company’s Shareholders/Direct partners (Level 1) |
% |
Company’s Shareholders/Indirect partners (Level 2) |
% |
|
Altice Portugal, S.A.* |
100% |
Altice West Europe, S.à.r.l.** |
100% |
Source: 2015 Reports and Accounts of Altice, S.A. and Cabovisão - Televisão por Cabo, S.A.
* On 20 January 2016, the capital was sold to Cabonitel, S.A., majority owned by Cabolink S.à.r.l., which is part of Grupo APAX.
** On 31.12.2014, Altice West Europe S.à r.l. was wholly owned by Grupo Altice.
- MEO - Serviços de Comunicações e Multimédia, S.A.
|
Company’s Shareholders/Direct partners (Level 1) |
% |
Company’s Shareholders/Indirect partners (Level 2) |
% |
|
PT Portugal SGPS, S.A. |
100% |
Altice Portugal, S.A. |
100% |
Source: 2015 Reports and Accounts of MEO - Serviços de Comunicações e Multimédia, S.A.
- NOS Comunicações, S.A.
|
Company’s Shareholders/Direct partners (Level 1) |
% |
Company’s Shareholders/Indirect partners |
% |
|
NOS, SGPS, S.A. |
100% |
ZOPT, SGPS, S.A. |
50.01% |
|
Banco BPI |
3.40% |
||
|
Sonaecom, SGPS, S.A. |
2.14% |
||
|
Norges Bank |
2.11% |
||
|
Blackrock Inc |
2.01% |
||
|
[BCI] [ECI] |
[BCI] [ECI] |
Source: 2015 Report and Accounts for NOS Comunicações, S.A., and 2015 Report and Accounts for NOS SGPS, S.A.
- ONITELECOM - Infocomunicações, S.A.
|
Company’s Shareholders/Direct partners (Level 1) |
% |
Company’s Shareholders/Indirect partners (Level 2) |
% |
|
ONI SGPS, S.A. |
100% |
Winreason, S.A. (*) |
100% |
Source: 2015 Report and Accounts of ONITELECOM - Infocomunicações, S.A.
On 31.012.2015, Winreason, S.A. was wholly owned by Cabovisão - Televisão por Cabo, S.A..
- VODAFONE PORTUGAL - Comunicações Pessoais, S.A.
|
Company’s Shareholders/Direct partners (Level 1) |
% |
Company’s Shareholders/Indirect partners (Level 2) |
% |
|
Vodafone Holdings Europe B.V. |
61.37% |
[BCI] [ECI] |
[BCI] [ECI] |
|
Vodafone Group Plc* |
38.63% |
|
|
Source: Annual electronic communications questionnaire - 2016
* Vodafone Group Plc directly or indirectly holds 100% of Vodafone Portugal’s share capital.
Moreover, it was found, given the shareholder structure of the following bodies, that they maintain interdependence links with some of the bodies referred above.
- KNEWON, S.A.
|
Company’s Shareholders/Direct partners (Level 1) |
% |
Company’s Shareholders/Indirect partners (Level 2) |
% |
|
ONI SGPS, S.A. |
100% |
Winreason, S.A. (*) |
100% |
Source: 2014 Report and Accounts of ONITELECOM - Infocomunicações, S.A. and 2014 Reports and Accounts of Altice S.A. and Annual Electronic Communications Questionnaire - 2015. *On 31.012.2014, Winreason, S.A. was totally owned by Grupo Altice.
* ANACOM is not provided with information on the shareholding composition of Knewon, S.A. on 31.12.2015, taking into account that, by order of 29.06.2015, this Authority cancelled the registration of this company for the provision of electronic communications services.
- NOS Açores Comunicações, S.A.
|
Company’s Shareholders/Direct partners (Level 1) |
% |
Company’s Shareholders/Indirect partners (Level 2) |
% |
|
NOS Comunicações S.A. |
83.82% |
NOS, SGPS, S.A. |
100% |
|
EDA - Electricidade dos Açores, S.A |
6.18% |
Autonomous Region of Azores [BCI] [ECI] |
50.1% [BCI] [ECI] |
|
Açoreana Seguros, S.A. |
2.11% |
Soil SGPS Oitante, S.A. |
52.3% 47.7% |
|
Millenium BCP |
7.89% |
[BCI] [ECI] |
[BCI] [ECI] |
Source: 2015 Report and Accounts for NOS Açores Comunicações, S.A., 2015 Report and Accounts for NOS SGPS, S.A., 2015 Report and Accounts for EDA - Eletricidade dos Açores, 2015 Report and Accounts for Açoreana Seguros, S.A; Annual electronic communications questionnaire - 2016
- NOS Madeira Comunicações, S.A.
|
Company’s Shareholders/Direct partners (Level 1) |
% |
Company’s Shareholders/Indirect partners (Level 2) |
% |
|
NOS Comunicações S.A. |
77.95% |
NOS, SGPS, S.A. |
100% |
|
Banif Capital Sociedade Capital de Risco, SA |
2.52% |
n.d. |
n.d. |
|
E- Tempus SGPS,S.A |
5.86% |
[BCI] [ECI] |
[BCI] [ECI] |
|
Banco Comercial Português |
10.78% |
n.d. |
n.d. |
|
Açoreana Seguros, S.A. |
2.89% |
Soil SGPS Oitante S.A. |
52.3% 47.7% |
Source: 2014 Report and Accounts for NOS Madeira Comunicações, S.A., 2014 Report and Accounts for NOS SGPS, S.A.
- Vodafone Enterprise Spain, S.L. - Portugal branch
|
Company’s Shareholders/Direct partners (Level 1) |
% |
Company’s Shareholders/Indirect partners |
% |
|
Vodafone Enterprise Spain, S.L. |
100% |
[BCI] [ECI] |
[BCI] [ECI] |
Source: Annual Electronic Communications Questionnaire - 2015
It follows from the described shareholder structures for 31.12.2015 that there are three companies required to contribute to the FCSU, which at that date integrated nine bodies, in the light of the concept of company provided for in the Fund Law. Accordingly, the table below lists companies required to make contributions to the compensation fund, both the contribution intended to finance CLSU for 2015 incurred by the tender-designated USP and the extraordinary contribution for 2015 intended to finance CLSU approved in this year by ANACOM, which concern 2012 and 2013, as well as the weight of each company’s ET in the sector’s overall ET.
|
Companies |
Weight in the sector [BCI] |
|
Grupo Cabovisão/Onitelecom/Knewon/MEO |
|
|
CABOVISÃO - Televisão por Cabo, S.A. |
|
|
ONITELECOM - Infocomunicações, S.A. |
|
|
KNEWON, S.A. |
|
|
MEO - Serviços de Comunicações e Multimédia, S.A. |
|
|
Grupo NOS |
|
|
NOS Comunicações, S.A. |
|
|
NOS AÇORES COMUNICAÇÕES, S.A. |
|
|
NOS MADEIRA COMUNICAÇÕES, S.A. |
|
|
Grupo VODAFONE |
|
|
VODAFONE PORTUGAL - Comunicações Pessoais, S.A. |
|
|
VODAFONE Entreprise Spain , SL - Portugal branch |
[ECI] |
|
Total |
97.90% |
Source: ANACOM calculations based on companies’ and the sector’s eligible turnover.
Note: Discrepancies in totals are due to the effects of rounding.
Companies required to contribute to the FCSU thus cover around 97.9% of the sector’s overall ET.
1 It is noted that for the purpose of the extraordinary contribution, this article applies by virtue of paragraph 4 of article 18.
2 According to that article, the weight of companies in the electronic communications sector is calculated according to the following formula: Pi=Vi/(∑Vi), where Pi represents the weight of the company in the electronic communications sector; Vi, the eligible turnover in the electronic communications sector on national territory for company i in the calendar year concerned; and ∑Vi, the eligible turnover in the electronic communications sector on national territory for all companies providing public communications networks and/or publicly available electronic communications services in the calendar year concerned.
3 Article which also applies, for the purpose of the extraordinary contribution, by virtue of paragraph 4 of article 18.
