ANACOM continued its work in the various areas of market analysis and regulation, working to ensure a competitive market, as is so essential to the development of electronic and postal communications, while mindful of the need to ensure territorial cohesion and a robust response to the needs of the most disadvantaged sections of the Portuguese population. Some of the activities undertaken during the course of the year are summarised below.
From the outset, in January, ANACOM approved a draft decision on the quality of service indicators to be accomplished by CTT by the end of 2020. The indicators have increased in number (from 11 indicators to 24 indicators) and have been made more demanding, compelling CTT to deliver a higher percentage of mail more quickly. The aim is to improve the quality of the universal postal service without jeopardising its sustainability and economic-financial viability.
Also in January, ANACOM carried out inspections in conjunction with GNR and ASAE on the A8 motorway (Auto Estrada do Oeste), in which more than two dozen heavy goods vehicles were inspected. In the case of ANACOM, the objective of the action was to check that all the radiocommunication media used in heavy goods vehicles were being used in accordance with the law and not for unlawful purposes.
In February, ANACOM, operators with portability obligations and Portabil, the reference entity that manages the database of ported numbers, agreed on a revision of prices associated with the provision of portability services. These monthly subscription prices will see a significant reduction, up to 62%, from the values in force since 2015.
Also in February, and in partnership with Associação Nacional de Municípios Portugueses (National Association of Portuguese Municipalities), ANACOM organised three clarification sessions on the European Commission’s WiFi4EU initiative, a scheme which aims to promote Internet connectivity in local communities with financial support under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The sessions were held in Guimarães, Coimbra and Évora. The roadshow, which ended in Lisbon on 2 February, was aimed at providing information on the initiative and informing municipal councils about how they could apply for support from the European Commission to increase Wi-Fi coverage in their municipalities. In the end, 127 municipalities were awarded vouchers from the European Commission.
At the request of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and in the exercise of its powers and responsibilities, on 16 February, ANACOM held a meeting to analyse how best to establish and deploy a system to provide warnings to the population in emergency situations, within the scope of civil protection (forest fires, tsunamis, adverse weather events, floods, dams bursts, radiological emergencies, industrial accidents, terrorist attacks, etc.), taking into account the best practices already followed in other countries.
In March, ANACOM held a workshop to hear different stakeholders on how to improve the security and resilience of electronic communications networks in the event of forest fires. This initiative, which is part of the programme of the Forest Fires Working Group, set up by ANACOM to identify and implement measures to promote the resilience of networks in the event of forest fires, brought together 50 participants from about 20 entities. It is recalled that, following the fires of June and October 2017, thousands of people were left without service for months.
Also in March, ANACOM recommended that telecommunications operators do not charge subscribers for non-itemized bills or for bills with a minimum of detail, either on paper or on any other medium. ANACOM's recommendation stems from consumer complaints and news reports that, from April, MEO intends to charge mobile voice customers and customers of fixed and mobile Internet bundles for paper bills.
A meeting was also held to ensure the air transport of mail to and from the Autonomous Region of the Azores. TAP and SATA undertook to respond to this need at a meeting arranged by ANACOM which, alongside representatives of the two airlines, was attended by ANAC, the Regional Director of Transport of the Azores and CTT. The meeting, chaired by ANACOM's Chairman, João Cadete de Matos, was held with the aim of putting an end to the difficulties that have affected mail transport within the universal postal service to and from the Autonomous Region of the Azores, at risk of being interrupted, with serious consequences for the region's consumers and economy.
In April, consumers were once again been at the centre of ANACOM's action, with a drive to ensure that operators respond better to customer complaints. In this sense, the regulator is defining the requirements that operators must meet in responses they give to complaints sent to them by their customers and entered in complaint books (physical or electronic). The aim is to ensure an improvement in the quality of operator responses to complaints, enhancing consumer rights. In order to speed up the complaint handling process, ANACOM also wants to receive these complaints from operators by electronic means, using the extranet made available for this purpose.
ANACOM also determined a 26% decrease in wholesale fixed termination prices. The maximum price is reduced to 0.047 eurocents per minute, with billing by the second from the first second. These price reductions help instil conditions for increased competition in the offer of electronic communications services, including the telephone service at a fixed location.
ANACOM also approved amendments to Regulamento de Portabilidade (Portability Regulation) with the aim of addressing the high rejection rates of portability requests, which have not improved in recent years and currently stand at 20% (22% for mobile numbers and 10% in the case of fixed numbers), corresponding to 209 thousand rejections. The new rules are also aimed at reducing delays associated with switching provider and cases of undue portability.
In May, ANACOM concluded analysis of the prices of wholesale offers supported over high-speed networks in rural areas and made a proposal to the Government for a reduction in Fibroglobal's offer prices of between 30% and 66%. In addition, ANACOM considered it important that Fibroglobal to extend its bitstream offer to Internet speeds of 200 Mbps, 400 Mbps or even 1 Gbps, and that it introduces multicast functionality, enabling provision of television and broadband Internet services.
ANACOM also approved analysis of possible over-financing of contracts governing rural high-speed networks. In this analysis, it was concluded that there was over-financing in the contracts with Fibroglobal, for the Centre region and Azores region, with reimbursement amounting to around 3.1 million euros.
In the same month, ANACOM also made changes to the Reference Duct Access Offer (RDAO) and Reference Poles Access Offer (RPAO). The draft decision was submitted to a public consultation and prior hearing.
Also in May, ANACOM conducted monitoring of the spectrum at the Altice Arena to guarantee optimal conditions for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 - semi-finals (8 and 10 May) and final (12 May). This work, developed in collaboration with RTP - Rádio e Televisão de Portugal and with Eurovision, was begun in April and was designed to ensure that networks and radio stations operate without harmful interference at the event.
With regard to the universal service, ANACOM considered that, in the future, there is no justification for designating providers of electronic communications services and paying them to provide services that are available in the market or services that citizens do not use. In the 5 year period of current provisions, the universal service has a cost of 23.8 million euros, which is indirectly but ultimately supported by all consumers and users with no significant benefit in return. In a situation without designation of universal service providers, this sum could be applied in other ways, including in ways that ensure an effective response to essential needs at a lower cost, investing in the development of telecommunications, for example in the provision of broadband Internet to the entire population, and reducing the prices of communications.
On 17 May, ANACOM marked World Telecommunication Day with a roundtable discussion attended by the largest telecom operators in the Portuguese market (MEO, NOS, Nowo and Vodafone) and by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Foundation for Science and Technology). The theme of the roundtable was "The use of Artificial Intelligence for the common good", reflecting the theme chosen for the celebration of this date by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Finally in May, the working group created and coordinated by ANACOM to find solutions to improve the protection and resilience of telecommunications networks in the event of forest fires identified 27 measures whose implementation will reduce the impact of fires on telecommunications infrastructure.
This working group was set up following the preliminary report on "Forest Fires - Measures for the Protection and Resilience of Electronic Communications Infrastructure", which was conducted by ANACOM and which identified a set of measures to improve the security and integrity of electronic communications networks and services.
In June, ANACOM defined the requirements that operators must comply with in response to complaints that their customers send to them through complaint books (physical or electronic). The requirements set by ANACOM stipulate that operators respond to complaints using clear and easily understood language and that the information made available should be complete, specific and substantiated. These requirements instil confidence in the communications market by bringing greater transparency and legal certainty in the response to complaints, both for users and operators. It should also be noted that these requirements represent the minimum standards of quality to which responses should adhere, and nothing prevents operators from further improving the quality of their complaint handling procedures.
ANACOM organised a meeting on the reimbursement of the social mobility allowance for the air transport of passengers between Mainland Portugal, the Azores, Madeira and between the Azores and Madeira. The meeting was attended by the Secretary of State for Infrastructure, the Regional Governments of the Azores and of Madeira, IGF - Inspeção-Geral de Finanças (Inspectorate-General of Finance), ANACOM and CTT. This meeting resulted in the view that the Internet (and the creation of an electronic platform) is the means that best serves this purpose, since the beneficiaries will be able to send all the required data and scanned documents electronically, and will no longer need to travel to CTT offices.
In the postal context, ANACOM ordered CTT to implement a reduction of 0.085 percentage points in prices prevailing in 2018, due to its failure to comply with two quality indicators of the universal postal service. Under ANACOM's decision, adopted following a prior hearing of the universal postal service provider, these new prices will have to be in force for at least 3 months. Considering that the price update implemented by CTT for 2018 was 4.5%, the weighted average change in the prices of the basket of correspondence, parcels and editorial mail services may not now exceed 4.415%.
Finally, reference should be made to ANACOM's intervention on the subject of submarine cables. Providing connections between Mainland Portugal, the Azores and Madeira, and between the Autonomous Regions, these cables have a projected end-of-life in 2024/2025 (Columbus III in 2024 and Atlantis-2 in 2025). For this reason, decisions are required with utmost urgency to ensure that new interconnections enter into operation before then. This circumstance has prompted ANACOM to alert the Portuguese Government, the regional governments of the Azores and Madeira and operators as to the need to find a solution. To promote debate on this matter and to identify the best options for consideration, ANACOM organised a workshop, taking place on 20 June in Lisbon on "The future of the Mainland-Azores-Madeira interconnection by submarine cable", bringing together a broad group of stakeholders.
ANACOM considers that the replacement of submarine interconnection cables should be a priority for Portugal and for the European Union, representing a critical investment to ensure national cohesion and economic development in Portugal and the European area.
In July, ANACOM established the new price for call terminations on mobile networks at 0.42 eurocents per minute (wholesale price charged among operators). This new price represents a reduction to the order of 44% compared to the current price - 0.75 eurocents/minute.
The reduction in mobile termination rates is of great importance, since it remedies distortions in competition that penalise the market, in particular smaller operators, giving them the ability to improve their competitive capacity and become more appealing, with benefits for consumers in general.
The roadmap for the release and allocation of the 700 MHz band was also defined in July; this process is necessary for the development of 5th generation mobile within the framework of international agreements and the determinations of the European Parliament and the Council. Release of the band, which should commence in the last quarter of 2019 and be completed by 30 June 2020, required the migration of digital terrestrial television (DTT) to a new frequency band.
The national roadmap proposed by ANACOM, which received the agreement of the Secretary of State for Infrastructure, provides for the adoption of the simplest migration scenario, through the maintenance of current technology and without the need for any period of simultaneous transmission. This scenario will only require the tuning of equipment to the new frequency, i.e. it will not be necessary to acquire any new equipment, nor to repoint antennas. Despite the simplicity of the process, ANACOM will support all users and is preparing a plan for this purpose.
In the same month, ANACOM ordered that changes be made to offers which violate the rules of net neutrality and roaming (TSM Regulation and Roaming Regulation), giving operators 50 working days to amend zero-rating and other similar offers, made available by providers of mobile Internet access.
In the postal sector, ANACOM approved universal service quality indicators to be accomplished by CTT in 2019 and 2020. The new set of indicators stems from contributions received in previous hearings and public consultation and are more demanding than those currently in force, not only because the number of indicators has increased (24 indicators versus the current 11), but also because some of the targets are more demanding.
Finally, on 30 July, and in collaboration with Polícia Judiciária (Criminal Police), PSP (Public Security Police), GNR (National Republican Guard), Autoridade Marítima (Maritime Authority), ASAE (Food and Economic Safety Authority), Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras (Immigration and Borders Service), Autoridade Tributária (Tax Authority), Social Security and ANAC, ANACOM conducted a series of 30 inspections. ANACOM's enforcement actions, involving a total of 83 staff, analysed various sectors. Actions included those focused on the fight against card-sharing, the verification of radiocommunications network equipment used on board leisure, maritime-tourist and fishing vessels, and in heavy goods vehicles, the analysis of systems to detect and inhibit drones jointly with ANAC, for technological risk assessment, etc.
In August notification was made to the European Commission of ANACOM's decision to discontinue regulation of the fixed origination market (final decision adopted in October). The use of indirect access (pre-selection or call-to-call selection) and of the Subscriber Line Reference Offer (SLRO) has declined as alternative operators increasingly invested in their own infrastructure, contributing to increased competition in the market. No longer meeting the three criteria set out in the European Commission's Recommendation on Relevant Markets for ex ante regulation, the market will no longer be regulated and, consequently, MEO will no longer be subject to the obligations imposed on it.
In September, ANACOM ordered inclusion of the date of expiry of contract lock-in periods and respective charges, among other information, in bills to be sent free of charge to customers, regardless of how the bill is provided.
Also in the scope of consumer protection, ANACOM made it clear that operators may adopt solutions that comply with Internet Neutrality without penalising consumers; this follows ANACOM’s decision of July, in which changes were ordered to offers which violated the rules of net neutrality and roaming by not complying with European legislation on Internet neutrality. Clarification from the regulator was warranted given the information that some operators were sending to their customers, in particular information giving an equivocal understanding that the solution adopted - the blocking of all traffic once the general data cap has been exhausted - arises from the determination of ANACOM, when it is in fact their sole responsibility.
In the following month, October, ANACOM organised a round table to mark World Post Day, held annually on 9 October. Innovation in the postal sector was the theme put forward for a debate involving Olivier Establet (Chronopost), Francisco de Lacerda (CTT), João Carlos Duarte, (Iberomail) and João Cadete de Matos (ANACOM). Proceedings were moderated by Rogério Carapuça, Chairman of APDC.
On 7 November, ANACOM approved a 10% reduction in the price of circuits between Mainland Portugal and the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira (CAM circuits). In circuits between the various islands of the Azores (inter-island circuits) the reduction was 6%. This reduction affects the prices of the circuits made available by MEO to other operators and providers of electronic communications services within the framework of the Reference Ethernet Leased Lines Offer (RELLO).
Also in November, ANACOM approved the maximum price variation of non-reserved postal services for 2019-2020 (correspondence, postal parcels and periodicals). Prices in these two years will remain below inflation, since the variation may not be higher than the value of inflation minus 0.25 percentage points. The variation in the price of stamps for postage up to 20g is also limited by the maximum variation.
As in previous years, ANACOM submitted its Activities Plan to public consultation. Since ANACOM considers openness to the opinion and contribution of all as desirable practice, the 2019-2021 plan was kept open for comment until 17 December.
Also in November, ANACOM determined a reduction in DTT prices amounting to 15% of the annual value per Mbps that MEO charges television operators (RTP, SIC and TVI) - i.e., the annual price of the DTT signal transport and broadcasting service was set at 885.1 thousand euros per Mbps.
In December, and following information from CTT that it would discontinue the Phone-ix mobile service, ANACOM brought it to the attention of customers of this service that they had up to three months following the date on which the service ceased to request portability of their numbers to other mobile operators.
In the same month, and having received updated data from MEO on the universal pay-telephone service, ANACOM made an addendum to the report of the public consultation on the review of the conditions governing provision of the universal service of electronic communications in its various components. According to MEO's information, public pay-telephones register an average of one call per public pay-telephone per day, about half the number previously reported to ANACOM. This situation reinforces the recommendation that ANACOM made to the Government in May, arguing that the designation of universal service providers, including for the public pay-telephone service, could not be justified.
Finally, and also in the last month of the year, ANACOM determined alterations to the system used to measure CTT quality indicators following an audit by Grant Thornton. This audit showed that some of the measurement procedures implemented might not ensure that the indicator values reported properly correspond to the quality of the service actually provided. The changes determined by ANACOM, in order to guarantee the accuracy and comparability of quality of service indicators, included the following safeguards: the procedures for sending the test objects to the panellists by the measuring entity must be carried out without the involvement of CTT; delivery of parcels on several days of the week and not on a single predetermined day; the test objects to have similar appearance to that of actual mail items; the use of test objects with transponders was prohibited.
