ANACOM - National Communications Authority wants PT Comunicações to amend the RUO - Reference Unbundling Offer, in order to improve conditions for operator collocation in its exchanges - a key instrument to enable operators to cover a significant part of the population -, as the Authority considers that PT may not reject applications from other operators alleging energy or space constrains. With this ruling, the regulator carries on its intervention in the scope of the local loop unbundling, which is deemed essential, given the current market structure, to the improvement of competitive conditions of operators and service providers, namely as regards retail broadband access offers.
Interventions which have taken place - concerning prices, operation conditions or contractual conditions - have contributed towards improving provision conditions and increasing the confidence of market participants. This improvement can be seen by the number of loops unbundled by alternative operators in the course of the third quarter of this year, which reached 172 thousand accesses, a further 18% than the previous quarter and a further 139% than the end of 2005.
This competition increase, supported on the improvement of regulatory conditions ensured by ICP-ANACOM, has led to a higher diversification of retail provisions and services, with favourable conditions to end users. In fact, offers at increasingly higher speeds and competitive prices have been launched, contributing towards the development of the Information Society.
The improvement of regulatory conditions has led not only to the increase of unbundled loops, but also to the increase of the number of alternative operators interested in this provision and of the number of exchanges with collocated operators, which reached 190 in the third quarter of 2006, against 142, twelve months earlier.
This presence in the exchanges of PT Comunicações is not even stronger given a set of constraints which PTC has already identified, which have hindered a swift provision of conditions for the collocation of equipment or enlargement of modules engaged by operators and service providers, thus harming the development of alternative offers and, ultimately, end-users. These constraints take place especially at the level of provision of space in PTC exchange rooms, in distribution frames and at the level of provision of energy for power supply of this equipment.
In the light of the above, ANACOM has decided to impose on PT changes in the RUO - Reference Unbundling Offer, allowing for this purpose a 15-working-day deadline. These changes are based on the understanding of the regulatory authority that the incumbent may not reject collocation or module enlargement applications submitted by an operator who has provided forecasts for energy demand, on account of energy constraints.
The amendments to the RUO must take into consideration that it is incumbent upon PTC to measure energy needs, and in case operators have not installed meters in the collocation space, PTC may measure the actual consumption, passing the cost thereof on to operators.
In case PTC deems it necessary to expand the energy supply system, it may do so without rejecting collocation applications, passing on the costs - based on the proportion of energy consumed by equipment - to operators who benefit from this intervention, including companies of the PT Group who enjoy this expansion within one year from its implementation.
PTC must accept the installation of ''half-modules'' - spaces of smaller size - maximizing the use of all available space, and grounds for rejecting applications must be duly presented to ICP-ANACOM.
According to the determinations of the regulatory authority, where an exchange has no available space to meet collocation applications submitted by an operator, modules or blocks supplied for over three months and which have not been used, or supplied for over six months and the equipment of which is deactivated, are deemed as available space to accommodate collocation applications. In case there is any deactivated equipment, the operator who installed the equipment is responsible for the removal.
In case the room space or the main distribution frame needs to be extended or remodelled, the respective cost must be shared among all benefited operators, according to infrastructures used by operators, including companies of the PT Group who enjoy this expansion.
Operators must provide PTC beforehand with a demand forecast plan, stating the exchanges for which the local loop unbundling, physical collocation and signal transport provisions shall be requested, as well as the amount of local loops in the full and shared access modalities, among other particulars.
This decision of the regulatory authority has been submitted to the prior hearing of interested parties for a time limit of 15 working days.
Consult:
- Collocation procedures https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=433684
