By determination of 21.12.20161, the Management Board of the Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM) approved the decision on the analysis of the wholesale market for call termination on the public telephone network at a fixed location (hereafter “fixed termination market”), following a public consultation, a prior hearing of stakeholders, and notification to the European Commission (EC) of the draft decision regarding that market. In this context, the obligation to meet all reasonable requests to supply fixed call termination services, applying equally to TDM and IP interconnection, was imposed on all operators with significant market power (SMP). In the same context, it was determined that MEO – Comunicações e Multimédia, S.A. (MEO) must present an IP interconnection architecture proposal within four months of the publication of the final decision that approved the analysis of the aforementioned market.
As established in the decision under consideration, the IP interconnection proposal should propose provisions on: “(i) the architecture and topology of the new network, which must lead to a reduction of GPIs while taking due account of redundancy issues, (ii) the technical characteristics of IP interfaces and description of mechanisms to be implemented to ensure the quality of service and procedures related to number portability, (iii) the expected impact on existing GPIs and suggestions of alternatives that could limit such impact, as well as a GPI migration plan”.
It was also specified that while preparing the proposal MEO should bear in mind “(...) the contributions that the various OSPs may wish to put forward, which for this purpose must be requested in due time”.
In order to speed up the process of articulation with the other operators, the decision provided for ANACOM to hold a meeting, open to all interested operators, for MEO to present the outlines of its proposal for the IP interconnection architecture. The meeting took place on 22.2.2017, and MEO presented its proposal while the various operators present had the chance to discuss and express their opinions about it.
Following the meeting, some operators sent MEO, in writing and with the knowledge of ANACOM, their concerns and proposals about IP interconnection, and according to information from MEO there were also meetings with the operators on this matter.
On 24.4.2017 MEO sent ANACOM its technical proposal for IP interconnection, including the positions of several operators about that proposal, and its understanding about the concerns expressed and the identification of the proposals by these operators that were accommodated or rejected, as well as the reasons for same.
Having analysed the technical proposal for IP interconnection presented by MEO, the Management Board of ANACOM approved, on 4.8.2017, the draft decision (DD) on IP interconnection. The DD was submitted to the general consultation procedure and the prior hearing of interested parties, pursuant to Article 8 of the Electronic Communications Law 2(ECL) and to Articles 121 and 122 of the Code of Administrative Procedure, respectively.
In the context of the above public consultation and prior hearing of stakeholders, ANACOM received five contributions before the deadline, on behalf of eight entities. A contribution was also received, after the deadline, from a private citizen. After the analysis of the comments received within the time limit, a report on the prior hearing and consultation procedures was drawn up that includes a summary of contributions received as well as the regulator’s views thereon. The report is part of the draft decision prepared following the contributions received and is also part of the present decision.
On 16.11.2017, the Management Board of ANACOM approved the aforementioned draft decision as well as its notification to the EC, to the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) and to the National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) of the other Member-States of the European Union (EU).
The draft decision was notified to the EC on 17.11.2017, pursuant to Article 57(1) of the ECL, and registered with number PT/2017/2045.
By communication of 12.12.2017, the EC stated it had no comments. On that same occasion, it stated that ANACOM could approve the draft decision, in which case this should be communicated to the EC.
The present document consists of the final decision on IP interconnection and took into consideration the contributions received under the abovementioned procedures.
Notwithstanding the considerations set out throughout the document, and in particular the position of ANACOM in relation to the various matters at stake, especially in cases where this position differs from that advanced by MEO, ANACOM does not seek to require changes to proposals based on consensus among the various Operators, on the assumption that this consensus - in terms of interconnection - is the one best suited to the interests of the various operators.
In this context, the explanation presented in this document of the IP interconnection proposal presented by MEO is not exhaustive; the draft decision describes, in general terms, the content of MEO's proposal, highlighting in particular the aspects where there appears to be less consensus or where the regulator's intervention is considered necessary and opportune.
Therefore, a brief summary is given in the points below of the relevant features of the technical proposal for IP interconnection presented by MEO (which is attached to the present document), with reference to the proposals/contributions presented by other operators and sent to MEO, in some cases with the knowledge of ANACOM and included in this Authority’s understanding of the various issues raised by them. Point 2 addresses network architecture and topology, as well as the technical characteristics of IP interconnection, quality of service, numbering, and portability, and other issues; point 3 analyses the migration plan; point 4 looks at the matters related to call origination; point 5 examines the other issues raised. Lastly, point 6 presents the conclusions to be submitted to public consultation and the prior hearing of the interested parties.
1 Available at
2 Law 5/2004 of 10 February, in its current wording.
