ICP-ANACOM has introduced two alterations to the ''PT ADSL Network'' wholesale broadband offer of PT Comunicações to be implemented by the operator within 10 working days, and aims to facilitate the broadband customer migration process between the various existing service providers.
To achieve the goal of facilitating customer changes between operators, the regulator is requiring PTC to alter its wholesale broadband offer by activating the customer migration process immediately upon receiving the migration order from the customer's new chosen operator. PTC currently carries out the migration upon receiving a cancellation order from the service provider from which the end user wishes to migrate. Faced with the prospect of losing a customer, operators, by nature, often lag behind in completing this process. The reversal in paperwork which the regulator intends to implement, initiating the migration process when the new operator delivers its service order to PTC, will facilitate the customer migration process between operators.
With the alteration that ICP-ANACOM wants to introduce, termination of the service agreement must be delivered by the end user to the new chosen operator at the time the customer wishes to migrate to this service provider. The new operator will then be responsible for sending the termination notice to the service provider that the customer wants to leave.
This alteration has now been submitted to a prior hearing of interested parties for opinions to be voiced within 10 working days.
The regulator has given PT Comunicações the same 10-day time frame to introduce previously-imposed conditions in the ''PT ADSL Network'' from the time its new wholesale broadband offer was authorized. This offer went in to effect on 19 May and progressed with new speed classes of 2 Mbps, 4 Mbps and 8 Mbps. The conditions entailed setting a maximum price of 7.05 euros/month for local access with ATM aggregation, regardless of the speed class, and extending the ''free-of-charge'' period to providers of bandwidth alterations to the 2 Mbps, 4 Mbps and 8 Mbps classes, regardless of the aggregation mode or the fact that a service provider change is involved. This ''free-of-charge'' period must be kept for six months.
At the same meeting, ICP-ANACOM's Board of Directors also debated the existence of significant market power on the part of the PT Group in the provision of wholesale broadband access (market 12). This insight was contained in a document submitted for public consultation at the end of last year.
PT Group companies will thus be subject to various obligations, namely: mandatory access at various network points, transparency in the publication of information (including reference offers), non-discrimination in the offer of access and interconnection, price and cost control, and so on.
These obligations, together with notable improvements in the ''PT ADSL Network'' wholesale offer, ensure a more constructive competitive environment, and consequently the regulator believes that no additional access obligations (namely involving the cable network) will be necessary for the time being. It does not, however, rule out this possibility along with other measures if the current environment cannot adequately foster competition in the broadband access market.
The regulator also believes that a structural measure, such as separation of the cable distribution network, will provide more investment incentives than imposing access obligations, but does not consider it appropriate to pursue this option under current circumstances.
Nonetheless, cable network offers launched by the PT Group must be accompanied by identical offers in the ''PT ADSL Network'' wholesale offer so that they may be matched by other operators.
Consult:
- Alteration of the ''PT ADSL Network'' wholesale offer https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=419403
- Market 12 - Wholesale provision of broadband access https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=152442
