Price per line reflecting administrative costs incurred in the activation of pre-selection
On the 21st of July 1999 ICP determined, under the terms of article 23 of Decree-Law no. 415/98 of 31st of December, that all direct access FTS operators / service providers should deploy, as of 1st of July 2000, means via which end users can choose, via carrier pre-selection, which operator (from among the interconnected operators) provides them with national and international switched services, with the option to cancel on a call-by-call basis dialling a short prefix.
The same ruling applies to primary rate ISDN for PT and to the FTS licensing regulations for other operators / providers.
On the 12th of May 2000, after consulting the FTS operators / providers, ICP determined a number of principles and specifications for pre-selection.
These include regulations on cost allocation. For administrative costs per line, it is determined that costs can - where reasonable - be allocated to providers in accordance with the following principles:
- For operators/ providers with significant market power in the national interconnection market, prices should be compatible with the principle of cost orientation. Taking into account, namely, the principle of transparency, prices should be explicitly indicated in the respective reference interconnection offers.
- For operators / providers without significant market power, prices should observe the general rules and principles embodied in the appropriate legislation; practices which are anti-competitive shall not be admissible.
Definitive carrier pre-selection will take effect on the forthcoming expiry of the interim pre-selection phase. If it is to be implemented with the reliability and stability that the market requires, it is essential that operators (and especially those with significant market power in the relevant markets) define, as quickly as possible, prices per line for the administrative costs incurred in the activation of pre-selection.
Thus the ICP determines that:
1. Taking into account paragraphs a) to g) of no. 2 of article 4, paragraph d) of article 22 and no. 4 of article 10 of Decree-Law no. 415/98, and according to no. 1 of article 13 of the same diploma, PT should submit, within a period of ten days, a reasonably justified proposal for prices per line for the administrative costs incurred via the activation of pre-selection. As the analytical accounting system currently used by PT is based on historic costs and is incapable of supplying activation costs at present, for purposes of cost orientation the current practices throughout the European Union shall apply.
Thus the price per line to be charged by PT for administrative costs incurred with the activation of pre-selection should not exceed PTE 1 600.
Maximum reference prices shall be reviewed by ICP within one year and adjusted to match market evolution and current practices in the European Union;
2. Taking into account the guidelines for interconnection, and with special reference to the promotion of interoperability of public telecommunications services, the interests of the users and the efficient allocation of resources, ICP finds no reason for new operators to present prices higher than those established by PT following the present recommendations.
