Full accomplishment of ANACOM's mission entails a wide range of activities, carried out on a regular basis and requiring a major allocation of human and financial resources; this warrants their inclusion in the detail of the Plan.
These activities are detailed below, grouped according to the different strategic priorities defined for the 2017-2019 three-year period.
Strategic Priority 1: Assure and protect the interests of users and citizens
- Respond to complaints and enquiries from consumers
ANACOM provides information to each consumer as requested, specifically through responses to complaints and requests for information addressed to it. In 2015, ANACOM recorded a total of 66,657 complaints about communications services (14.9% fewer than in 2014); all were analysed, classified and answered. In this regard, the objective in 2017 is to answer 95% of the requests received within the same year.
Upon receiving a complaint, ANACOM analyses the problem described and, if it has complete contact information, it seeks to inform the person making the complaint as to their rights and about the mechanisms they can use to obtain resolution.
In addition to analysing and responding to the complaints it receives, ANACOM makes regular reports on these complaints, with information about trends and about the sectors, services and operators most cited in complaints. These reports are then published, providing consumers with information that is essential when selecting services.
Whenever analysis of complaints gives indication that an offence has been committed, processes are referred to litigation.
Analysis of complaints may also result in regulatory measures being drawn up where there is a considered need to put an end to inappropriate practices.
- Monitor information disclosed by service providers
The information which providers disclose to consumers is monitored on a regular basis to ascertain whether it complies with sector legislation and with ANACOM's determinations. ANACOM also periodically reviews provider contracts to check that their clauses comply with the legal requirements and obligations of disclosure and transparency.
- Conduct studies on the sector
ANACOM regularly conducts studies on the electronic communications and postal sectors. As a rule, in addition to focusing on the national situation, these studies also analyse the situations in other countries, which gives the regulator a broader perspective on the regulatory situation. The studies serve as an important tool in support of ANACOM's regulatory activity and decision-making process.
Strategic Priority 2: Promote open and competitive markets
- Grant and revoke licences for the exercise of activity, allocate numbering and frequencies
Pursuit of activity in the electronic communications sector is subject to the general authorisation regime. Likewise in the postal sector, although in some cases access to the activity is subject to licensing and it is ANACOM responsible for issuing these licences.
Where pursuit of an activity involves the use of numbering resources, these are allocated by ANACOM, which is also responsible for the allocation of rights of use of frequencies, when applicable.
ANACOM has powers to revoke issued titles, at the request of operators or, in the event of confirmed non-compliance with their provisions, upon its own initiative.
- Verify compliance with obligations and instigate breach proceedings
As part of its supervisory activity, ANACOM is responsible for enforcing compliance with the prevailing regulatory framework, with sector legislation and with its own determinations, as well as with the obligations which stem from allocated rights of use of frequencies and titles governing exercise of provider activities. ANACOM also oversees the conditions associated with the operation of networks and provision of services.
When it detects prohibited practices, processes are referred to litigation in order that the offender may be sanctioned and the behaviour in question remedied.
- Compile and disseminate statistical information about the communications sector to evaluate market trends and support decision-making
Over the course of the year, ANACOM compiles and analyses a wide range of statistical information on the sector, thereby obtaining a detailed understanding of the market and enabling quality decision-making. These analyses are then published, enhancing transparency and ensuring that all stakeholders have access to information that may be relevant in defining their strategies and the regulator's approach to the market.
The information collected is used by ANACOM in an annual report, which provides a very detailed snapshot of the situation in the markets for electronic communications and postal services. This report is then published on ANACOM's website. ANACOM also produces and releases quarterly reports detailing the trends and dynamics of the various services.
Strategic Priority 3: Ensure the efficient management of scarce resources
- Management and allocation of numbering resources
ANACOM is responsible for managing the PNN, including its guidelines and general principles, and for providing efficient management of numbering and addressing resources, including the allocation of resources and the definition of allocation conditions.
Use of numbering is subject to the allocation of rights of use; these may be allocated to companies providing publicly available electronic communications networks and services, and also to companies which make use of these networks or services.
In the management of numbering resources, ANACOM may recover allocated numbering in the event that the respective conditions are not respected.
- Licensing of telecommunications networks and stations
ANACOM issues station and network licences for the different radiocommunications services, which, in practical terms, is equivalent to authorising operation of the networks and stations in question. ANACOM is responsible for examining and processing the respective licensing procedures, including the assignment of frequencies.
- Monitoring and control of the spectrum
ANACOM is regularly engaged in an important set of activities to monitor the radio spectrum. This activity includes two types of actions: reactive, in response to requests put to it; and preventive actions which ANACOM undertakes on its own initiative, on a scheduled basis. In 2015, five thousand spectrum monitoring actions were undertaken: 3,417 preventive actions scheduled by ANACOM, and 1,572 carried out in response to complaints.
- Laboratory activities
ANACOM conducts electromagnetic compatibility tests, radioelectric testing and equipment calibrations – these are performed at LEC - Laboratório de Ensaios e Calibração (Testing and Calibration Laboratory). This area of activity complements ANACOM's enforcement work, since in many cases equipment seized during investigations needs to be analysed at the LEC to verify compliance with the technical requirements in force. In addition to its work in support of enforcement activities, the LEC performs work for third parties.
In 2015, the LEC performed radioelectric tests on 297 devices, conducted electromagnetic compatibility tests on 244 other devices and calibrated 194 devices.
Strategic Priority 4: Promote institutional and technical cooperation
- Cooperate with national entities
In fulfilment of its remit, ANACOM engages in cooperation with other national regulatory authorities, especially with AdC - Autoridade da Concorrência (Portuguese Competition Authority) and ERC - Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (Media Regulatory Authority). When these entities work on issues that require the opinion of the sector regulator, ANACOM is called on to give such opinions.
ANACOM also works in cooperation with ERSE - Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos (Electricity Services Regulatory Entity), which works with ANACOM to reduce incidents resulting from failures in the supply of electrical power.
ANACOM cooperates with the Assembleia da República (Assembly of the Republic), offering information and providing explanations upon request.
ANACOM's work also involves frequent cooperation with Direcção-Geral do Consumidor (Directorate General for the Consumer) and consumer organisations, as well as organisations involved in spectrum management for aeronautical purposes, the armed forces and national security/emergency services.
- Cooperate with international entities
ANACOM carries on important work of international cooperation of a strategic nature focusing on EU countries and Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP). ANACOM also focuses on maintaining relations with regulators and regulator associations in other geographical areas. The aim of this cooperation is to exchange knowledge and experience which might enrich regulatory practice in the countries involved, in electronic communications and in the postal sector.
Strategic Priority 5: Promote effectiveness and internal efficiency
- Expand the provision of services provided online and improve procedures
In order to improve its performance, ANACOM continually seeks to become more efficient, more agile and faster in providing responses to requests put to it. In this sense, ANACOM uses the simplification of procedures to reduce the bureaucratic burden associated with many tasks and dematerialise processes. In its relations with third parties, consumers and providers, ANACOM seeks, wherever possible, to facilitate interaction, making services available online whenever deemed appropriate.
- Promote excellence in human resources
ANACOM has a policy designed to add value to its human resources, based on the development of competencies. With this objective, ANACOM executes an annual training plan and engages in a range of different human resource management processes, including performance evaluation and internal mobility.
