In light of the above, ICP-ANACOM considers that it is necessary to adapt the annual questionnaire indicated in B) of the previous section, i.e., the questionnaire included in Annex 2 to ICP-ANACOM Determination of 17 November 2011, regarding "Questionnaires on information related to coverage, quality of service and implementation of site-sharing, to be sent to ICP-ANACOM by undertakings providing the land mobile service (GSM/UMTS) / Annual declaration to be presented by TMN - Telecomunicações Móveis Nacionais, S.A. and Vodafone - Comunicações Pessoais, S.A. on total coverage, per location with over 10,000 inhabitants and per municipality, provided in the provision of voice and data services up to 9600 bps".
Amendments to this questionnaire are mostly related to the need to incorporate information on coverage (in respect of voice services and data services up to 9600 bps, data with transmission speeds of 144 Kbps and the data service with transmission rates of 384 kbps) as achieved not solely based on rights of use of frequencies according to the GSM/UMTS systems but also, under the terms of paragraph 3 of the DUF, based on the rights of use of frequencies allocated subsequent to the multi-band auction.
However, further changes were made to the questionnaire, in particular as regards:
- Adaptation of the framework governing the request for response to the questionnaire and adaptation of some previously used terminology;
- Discontinuation of the current requirement to use "(...) the annual estimates of resident population in the entire Portuguese territory and in each NUTS II region as most recently published by INE (based on the latest Census) on the date to which the information relates". Whereas it is deemed desirable to ensure a degree of harmonisation and to update population data as frequently as possible, in practice providers have not always used the annual estimates as a reference. Furthermore, the population estimates published on an annual basis by INE are, as a rule, only reported by municipality, whereas, in ICP-ANACOM's view, calculation of achieved coverage may require information with further geographical detail. As such, the only obligation maintained will be the obligation to use the latest Census which, on the date to which the information relates, has been published by INE (note: the information from the 2011 Census is provided with detail up to parish level and statistical subsection);
- Inclusion, in the questionnaire's section on "Site-sharing policy", of information about "overall site-sharing policy" and not solely information, as provided for in the DUF on "implementation of the site-sharing policy assumed in the proposal presented to the public tender for the allocation of licences for the International mobile telecommunications systems (IMT2000/UMTS)". Even while providers will comply with the requirement of point b) (iv) of the section "Provision of information to ICP-ANACOM" of the respective DUF by sending this information on site-sharing, as is more specifically associated with this tender, ICP-ANACOM considers that in the current context, oversight of this matter must be based on comprehensive knowledge of information on implementation of the site-sharing policy, notwithstanding other obligations to provide information to which service providers are bound, in terms of sharing, including as under the provisions of Law no. 5/2004 of 10 February, Decree-Law no. 123/2009 of 21 May and the Auction Regulation.
- Explanation, in Part B of the questionnaire, of some additional items to give basis to the coverage results reported in Part A of the questionnaire.
- Adaptation of the questionnaire notes regarding segmentation in terms of NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) and changing the name of the current "Lisbon" NUTS II to "Área Metropolitana de Lisboa" (Lisbon Metropolitan Area). Indeed, as reported by INE:
. The latest regular process of modifying European NUTS was completed in 2013, establishing the NUTS reference boundaries effective from 1 January 2015;
. Meanwhile, following approval of Law no. 75/2013 of 12 September (which approved the status of inter-municipal entities), the Portuguese State requested that the European Commission conduct a special review of Portuguese NUTS. The number of new NUTS III will be reduced from 30 to 25 territorial units, with some boundary changes. In the case of NUTS II, no boundary changes have been made, except for the change in the name of the "Lisbon" NUTS II, as referred to above.
Furthermore, given the experience gained in analysing the annual declarations submitted to it by providers under the above determinations of 17 November 2011 and 17 May 2012, ICP-ANACOM considered it fitting to provide a better explanation of the signature requirements. In this respect, it is presently established that these declarations are to be signed by a person with powers to bind the undertakings concerned. However, ICP-ANACOM is of the view that it should be further specified that this declaration is to be signed by whosoever has powers to bind the undertaking, with the respective signature recognised in that quality or accompanied by the company's certificate of commercial registration or permanent certificate access code.
Finally, it is made clear that the provisions of the present determination are without prejudice to other applicable requirements to provide information, including in particular, but not limited to, the following:
a. The obligation to submit information to ICP-ANACOM on services and implemented facilities as well as on pricing1, to be sent no later than the 20th consecutive day of the month following the end of each half-year period;
b. The future obligation to report the following information, as required to review reference speeds and to verify compliance with coverage obligations associated with the rights of use of frequencies in the 800 MHz band allocated subsequent to the multi-band auction2:
b.1. Information in the questionnaire contained in Annex 1 to ICP-ANACOM Determination of 21 March 2014 (see "Final decision on methodology for establishing and reviewing reference speeds associated with coverage obligations in the 800 MHz bandhttps://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1195476"), to be presented to ICP-ANACOM under the terms of paragraph 2 of the same determination;
b.2. Coverage information as specified in the above questionnaire contained in Annex 3 to the same determination, to be presented to ICP-ANACOM under the terms of section 3 thereof.
Notes
1 This concerns information established in point a) of paragraph 8 of ICP-ANACOM Title no. 01/2012, in point a) of paragraph 8 of ICP-ANACOM Title no. 02/2012 and point a) of paragraph 9 of ICP-ANACOM Title no. 03/2012 (see "Serviço de comunicações eletrónicas terrestreshttps://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=345109").
2 Coverage obligations set out in article 34 of Regulation no. 560-A/2011 of 19 October and in Paragraph 18 of ICP-ANACOM Title no. 01/2012, in paragraph 18 of ICP-ANACOM Title no. 02/2012 and paragraph 19 of ICP-ANACOM Title no. 03/2012.
