Price of Fixed Telephone Service (FTS) calls originated on the PT network and terminated on the networks of other FTS providers (II)

Following analysis of the new price proposal from Portugal Telecom, it is considered that:

i. the prices to be applied to fixed telephone networks and the FTS shall respect principles of equality, transparency and non-discrimination;

ii. the prices of access to, and use of, the fixed telephone networks and FTS, to be charged by the respective operators and/or providers with significant market power, shall respect the principle of cost orientation;

iii. it is necessary to adopt a pricing system that does not penalise the development of competition in this market, and also taking into consideration:

iv. ICP's decision of September 21, 2000, on this matter;

v. previous decisions on the eligibility of calls made in indirect access, by decision of November 3, 2000, and under the terms of Article 51 of the Regulations of the Fixed Telephone Service, it has been decided that:

1. The prices of calls originated in PT's network and terminated in the networks of other Fixed Telephone Service (FTS) providers should be identical to the prices charged for calls originated and terminated in PT's network, although these prices may be corrected by the duly justified and quantified difference between the cost of termination of calls in PT's network and the cost of termination of calls in the network of each FTS provider. In other words, there may be differences between the prices of calls destined for different operators, provided that this difference results from the variation in the amount of the relevant termination charges.

2. Taking into consideration the technical difficulties associated to the identification of the local area in which a call is terminated, and for the purposes of applying the call classification rules contained in the present FTS pricing system, distances should be measured between the local area where the call is originated and the centre of the group of networks of the geographic numbering zone where the call is terminated.

3. The pricing of such calls may be reviewed in the event of that quantified information on the flows of traffic justifying this measure is made available.

4. In the event that differences are considered to exist between the cost of termination of calls in PT's network and the cost of termination of calls in the networks of other FTS providers PT must present a price proposal, within 10 days, as well as a detailed and quantified breakdown justifying these differences.

5. In accordance with ICP's decision on September 21, 2000, the new pricing system will apply to all relevant traffic for the year 2000.