Presidência do Conselho de Ministros (Presidency of the Council of Ministers)
Resolution of the Council of Ministers
Decree-Law No 31/2003, of 17 of February, which amended the bases of the concession of the public telecommunications service concluded between the Portuguese State and PT Comunicações, S.A., lays down, in addition to several services integrating that contract, that the concessionaire must ensure the maritime mobile service, on a transitional basis, up to the respective transfer to a different entity, which should take place within at the most one year from the date of publication of that statutory instrument.
The maritime mobile service has been provided hitherto as a public service, compensation for negative operating margins resulting from compliance with obligations related to the provision of that service being provided for.
In the context of the commitment undertaken in the memorandum of understanding concluded by the Portuguese State and the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank, on the renegotiation of the concession contract of the public telecommunications service, the Government decided to launch a public consultation to assess whether it was necessary and/or appropriate to maintain the provision, as a public service, of telex, switched data transmission, telegraph and maritime mobile services, the latter in its public correspondence component.
The referred consultation was implemented by ICP - Autoridade Nacional das Comunicações (ICP - ANACOM) and ran for a 10-day period, having been incumbent on this Authority, in the scope of its duties of assistance to the Government, to analyse the positions expressed and to prepare a report with recommendations.
In the public consultation report, ICP - ANACOM recommended, in a public service perspective, that the State dispensed with the provision of the maritime mobile service, in its public correspondence component.
ICP - ANACOM recommended further that the State ensured notification by the concessionaire of the public telecommunications service to its clients and to ICP - ANACOM, at least one month in advance, as regards termination of the provision of maritime mobile service.
In fact, based on the results of the public consultation and other measures taken by ICP - ANACOM, it was possible to conclude that not only the use of the maritime mobile service provided under the current concession contract is currently very low, but also that the volume of communications made over that service has significantly decreased over the years, amounting today to very little.
It was found also that users of the maritime mobile service may use other solutions and services to meet the same communication needs, namely satellite communication services and mobile communication services supported on GSM, UMTS and LTE.
In parallel, the Government took the necessary steps to assess the need to maintain the provision of the maritime mobile service, as a public service, in its rescue and emergency component.
In this scope, it was found that the maritime mobile service has currently a low relevance for the purpose of ensuring the Serviço de Busca e Salvamento Marítimo (the Maritime Search and Rescue Service), as well as compliance with obligations and responsibilities undertaken by the Portuguese State in the scope of see search and rescue, at national and international level.
It was concluded, in specific, in the scope of measures promoted, that termination of the maritime mobile service would have a very limited impact in terms of the effectiveness of the Sistema Nacional de Busca e Salvamento Marítimo (the National Maritime Search and Rescue System), given that the Portuguese Navy is sufficiently and appropriately skilled to guarantee the forwarding of medical advice calls to the Centro de Orientação de Doentes Urgentes - Mar (the orientation centre for medical emergencies) of the Instituto Nacional de Emergência Médica, I.P. (the National Medical Emergency Institute).
Accordingly, taking into account the current use which is made of the maritime mobile service, as a publicly available electronic communications service and its low impact at the level of the National Maritime Search and Rescue System, it is concluded that there is currently no reason compelling the State to ensure, in a public service approach, the provision of the referred service, in its public correspondence and rescue and emergency components, the respective negative operating margins resorting to public funding.
This conclusion is a development relatively to Decree-Law No 31/2003, of 17 February, and to the memorandum of understanding on the repeal of the concession contract of the public telecommunications service, concluded on 10 September 2012 between the State and PT Comunicações S.A., which provide for the transfer of the maritime mobile service to a different body, and results from the public consultation and further measures taken.
Consequently, and having heard the current concessionaire of the public telecommunications service, it is deemed appropriate to extend the deadline provided for in the referred memorandum of understanding to untie the concessionaire from the provision of this service, in order to better safeguard the position of its subscribers and users and ensure the adjustment of interested parties to the new reality. The provision of the maritime mobile service, along the current lines, is thus guaranteed until 30 April 2013, and a three-month time limit is hereby laid down for the prior advertising of the decision herein.
Therefore:
Under point g) of article 199 of the Constitution, the Council of Ministers hereby decides:
1 - To determine that the maritime mobile service ceases operation, as a public service, on 30 April 2013, thus ending on this date the obligation to pay negative operating margins provided for in article 21 of the bases of the concession of the public telecommunications service, in annex to Decree-Law No 31/2003, of 17 February.
2 - To establish that ICP - Autoridade Nacional das Comunicações (ICP - ANACOM), in the scope of its duties of assistance to the Government, must appropriately advertise the decision herein, at least three months ahead of the date referred in the preceding paragraph, namely by means of an announcement affixed in a visible place in all ports of the national territory, in national daily newspapers with wide circulation and in its webpage.
3 - To recommend that the current concessionaire of the public telecommunications service informs all subscribers of the maritime mobile service of the termination of the provision of the referred service, along the current lines, at least three months ahead of the date referred in paragraph 1.
4 - To determine that this resolution takes effect as from the day following that of its publication.
Presidency of the Council of Ministers, 3 January 2013. - The Prime-Minister, Pedro Passos Coelho.
