Brussels hosted last 4 December a workshop organised by the expert working group on Special Rate Services (EWG SRS). The participants discussed the group’s future work in the scope of the respective project requirement document (PRD), which will continue to focus on sharing experience and informal debate of problems affecting SRS and specifically include discussion of available regulatory mechanisms that can eventually regulate this market at wholesale level.
The preparation of a contribution to integrate BEREC’s work concerning revision of the European Commission recommendation on relevant markets subject to ex-ante regulation was also discussed. In this regard, the possible use of conclusions from the “BEREC Report on Special Rate Services” approved in May 2012 as a departure point for that contribution was mentioned.
ANACOM gave a presentation on the mobile origination market in Portugal at the request of the French regulator ARCEP, which heads the group. Concerns were expressed about the high prices of mobile origination service and competition distortions resulting from that situation, as well as recent developments following publication of the Competition Authority recommendation on national mobile network origination prices.
