New liberalisation measures announced

The timetable of telecommunications liberalisation until 2002 has already been announced by Luís Nazaré, chairman of the Instituto das Comunicações de Portugal (ICP), on the occasion of a dinner-debate held on July 3 and organised by the Associação Portuguesa para o Desenvolvimento das Comunicações (APDC - Portuguese Association for Communications Development).

The first measures to be implemented, during the first week of July, are the launch of the public consultation on the unbundled local loop offer (ULL); the sending of ICP's proposals on the set of items to be included in the Reference Interconnection Offer 2001to operators in order to hear their opinions; and the administrative conclusion of all outstanding interconnection agreements.

During the beginning of August, a public tender will be opened for the licensing of third generation mobile systems (IMT2000/UMTS), ahead of the date announced by minister Jorge Coelho during the commemorations of World Telecommunications Day (May 17). The deadline for submission of proposals has also been shortened and will last only two months (until the end of September). Licenses should be issued by the end of the year.

On October 1 there will be the modification of the property of fixed-mobile traffic and the introduction of indirect access for that kind of traffic, through call-by-call carrier selection and pre-selection (in the latter case, initially in Lisbon and Oporto only, to be extended to the rest of the country by November 15).

In mid-October the reference interconnection offer proposal for 2001 will be concluded, and regulations for the digital terrestrial television platform (TDT/DVB-T) will be announced, in order to begin the transmissions in 2002. At 00.00 hours on January 1, 2001, the eligibility of local and regional calls in fixed communications for indirect access through call-by-call carrier selection and pre-selection will be a reality.

On June 30 next year, number portability in the fixed telephone network will be introduced, and at the same time the local loop will be unbundled, in at least one of its modalities. June 30 will also be the close of the deadline for the implementation of associated conditions for the fixed wireless access (FWA) licenses that were issued in November 1999. ICP aims to rigorously control the compliance with such conditions from July onwards.

The year 2002 will see the beginning of transmissions from the TDT/DVB-T platform, the coming into operation of the third generation mobile systems (IMT2000/UMTS), and the implementation of operator number portability in the mobile telephone network.

This timetable is also associated to the decision made in order to enable Portugal draw the benefits from any derogatory measures in negotiations underway the European Union (1999 Review, which should be concluded by January 2002 at the latest), thus aiming to maintain Portugal's position in the first tier of countries. In this context, ICP's objectives are based upon the creation of open network conditions, increased competition and a regulatory regime as pro-active as possible.