A. Breakdown of ANACOM costs
Introductory note
The breakdown of ANACOM costs with the purpose of determining the regulation costs is equivalent to the breakdown of its annual accounting costs pursuant to the accounting standardisation system (Sistema de Normalização Contabilística - SNC) through the application of the Activity Based Costing (ABC) methodology.
1. ANACOM's costing system
ANACOM’s costing system was developed based on the ABC methodology and has the purpose of identifying the costs related to the development of the activities inherent in the statutory assignments it is committed to, as well as responding to the provisions of Article 105(4) of Law 5/2004 (Electronic Communications Law - ECL), and of Article 44(1)(2) of Law 17/2012 (Postal Services Law – PSL).
Overall, there are two major cost groups: regulation and spectrum management costs, and costs not related to the regulation activity. These latter are essentially costs related to the activity of advising and representing the State.
The breakdown of costs is shown in Figure 1.
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1. Regulation and spectrum management costs |
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1.1 Administrative costs relating to Electronic Communications 1.1.1 Administrative Costs a) Declarations supporting rights b) Exercise of the activity of supplier of networks and services c) Allocation of rights of use of frequencies d) Allocation of rights of use of numbers 1.1.2 Frequency management costs 1.1.3 Numbering management costs 1.2 Postal regulation costs 1.2.1 Exercise of the activity of provider of postal services 1.2.2 Declarations and licences 1.3 Other regulation costs |
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2. Other costs |
2. Regulation and spectrum management costs
These costs related to regulation and spectrum management represent the costs associated to the regulation, supervision, regulatory, sector representation and cooperation activities, and comprise the following costs:
a) Costs related to the electronic communications sector (under Law 5/2004).
In the context of identifying electronic communications costs, these are broken down to enable the determination of costs related to each of the actions specified in Article 105(1)(a) to (f) of the ECL. In this way, costs are separated into the following blocs:
i) Electronic Communications costs.
Costs related to providing declarations for the exercise of the activity, assigning rights of use of resources, and all its regulation, supervision, regulatory, sector representation, and cooperation activities in the area of regulation (Article 105(1)(a) to (d).
ii) Spectrum Management costs.
Costs related to the activities developed by ANACOM relating to the planning, assignment, monitoring and inspection of the radio-frequency spectrum. (Article 105(1)(f)).
iii) Numbering Management costs (Article 105(1)(e));
Costs related to the activities developed by ANACOM relating to the planning, monitoring and inspection of the numbering plan.
b) Costs related to the Postal Sector
Costs related to the issuance of declarations and licences for the exercise of the activity of provision of postal services, and with all regulation, supervision, regulatory, sectoral representation and cooperation activities.
In the context of identifying postal services’ costs, these are broken down to enable the determination of costs related to each of the actions specified in Article 44(1)(2) of the PSL.
c) Other administrative costs related to the regulator’s mission.
Costs derived from the regulation of services that are not included in the scope of Law 5/2004 (ECL) or in the scope of Law 17/2012 (PSL), notably the audiotext services, ITED (telecommunications infrastructure in buildings) and ITUR (Telecommunications Infrastructure in housing developments, urban development and building complexes) services, Information Society services, the amateur radio service and the personal radio service - citizen band (CB).
3. Costs not directly related to the regulation activity
This category includes other costs incurred by ANACOM which are not directly related to the regulation activity1, and include the following:
a) Costs related to Advising and Representing the State
Costs stemming from ANACOM’s participation in technical representation of the Portuguese State in the sector (Article 8(2)(c) of the articles of association, approved in the annex to Decree-Law 39/2015 of 16 March), which do not directly concern regulatory activity. These costs are generally those related to the following events2.
i) Preparation of and participation in meetings and conferences, as well as all the information exchanged in this context.
ii) Responding to requests varying in nature, such as technical opinions, studies requested by the relevant ministry, information requests, expert reports, etc.
iii) Replying to requests for radio easements and protection of radiocommunications services.
iv) Development of cooperation programmes within the Government.
v) Monitoring special projects (e.g.: ESA).
b) Contributions and levies related to certain entities
This group includes the contributions and levies payable to the following entities: ITU, UPU, UPAEP, ESA, CPLP, Satellite Organisations, and URSI.
1 These costs are considered not relevant to ANACOM’s regulatory activity, according to the interpretation of Article 105(4) of Law 5/2004.
2 It includes all international activity developed within certain groups/committees from the EU, ITU (Council, Development Sector, Plenipotentiary Conference, Radiocommunications World and Regional Conferences), UPU, UPAEP, satellite organisations, ESA and URSI, and all the national activity developed for the Government.
