ICP - Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ICP - National Communications Authority)
Regulation
(This is not an official translation of the law)
The indirect access, on a call-by-call basis by dialling a company’s selection identification code, was introduced in Portugal on 1 January 2000.
Subsequently, the pre-selection modality, without there being any need to dial a prefix and with a facility to override any pre-selected choice on a call-by-call basis, was made available as from 30 June 2000, first, through an interim solution, and as from 1 October in its definitive form, in the geographical areas of Lisbon and Oporto, and on 15 November in the remaining areas, with the possible exception of areas covered by ELD exchanges, which were covered subsequently by the limit date of 31 December 2000.
The selection and pre-selection resources were ensured at the time by all providers of the fixed telephone service with direct access, comprising in the beginning, by determination of the then ICP, only long distance national calls and international calls.
Subsequently, the scope of national calls was extended with the inclusion of fixed-mobile calls, on 1 October 2000, and of local and regional calls, on 1 January 2001.
The then ICP further determined that, as from 31 March 2000, the providers of the mobile telephone service, where requested, should make available call-by-call selection to international calls.
Having arisen the need for an intervention on the part of the regulator as regards the definition of harmonized rules for the pre-selection implementation and provision, the Board of Directors of the then ICP approved, by determination of 12 May 2000, the “Specification of Pre-Selection by FTS providers”.
Four years on, on 22 January 2004, ICP - ANACOM launched a public consultation on operator selection and pre-selection in Portugal, aiming to reassess the provision of these resources, particularly as regards the possible extension thereof to other types of traffic and improvements to be included in the Specification. The respective report was approved by determination of 21 July 2005.
With the publication of Law no. 5/2004, of 10 February (Electronic Communications Law), the selection and pre-selection provision became binding only on companies declared to possess significant market power in the connection to the public telephone network and use of this network at a fixed location. It is incumbent upon ICP - ANACOM to assess and decide on requests of users regarding the installation of these resources in other networks or other means, following the market assessment procedure.
The referred Law – paragraph 4 of article 84 and paragraph 1 of article 125 – provide for the power of ICP - ANACOM to determine the necessary rules for the implementation of the selection and pre-selection, which must take the form of a regulation.
Taking into account that nowadays the provision of selection and pre-selection resources is generalised, ICP - ANACOM decided to establish rules and procedures which apply to all providers of telephone services, both fixed or mobile, who provide these resources, even if only for commercial purposes, without prejudice to the existence of a set of specific provisions for direct access providers with significant market power.
The regulation thus establishes the principles and rules applicable to selection and pre-selection in public telephone networks, and is binding on all companies part of a selection and pre-selection procedure, as providers of a direct or indirect access. The aim is thus to harmonize procedures as much as possible for the final benefit of subscribers.
This regulation is based on the rules comprised in the Specification of Pre-Selection, extended to the selection, where applicable, which are now altered or adapted, in the light of the experience gained through the introduction of the indirect access since its start, in particular the difficulties pointed out by parties involved, as well as the replies received to the public consultation launched by ICP - ANACOM.
In this context, the extension of the traffic eligible for indirect access and the simplification of pre-selection activation and deactivation procedures should be highlighted, in the pursue of market interests and user interests in particular.
In compliance with article 11 of the Statutes of ICP - ANACOM, approved by Decree-Law no. 309/2001, of 7 December, and article 8 of Law no. 5/2004, of 10 February, the regulation, in its draft stage, was submitted to the respective consultation procedures, both regulatory and general, interested parties having been granted a 30-workig day time limit to assess the subject.
The final report, that analyses replies received in the scope of these procedures and justifies the options taken by ICP - ANACOM, is published on the website of this Authority.
Thus, pursuant to point a) of article 9 of the Statutes of ICP – Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ICP - ANACOM), approved by Decree-Law no. 309/2001, of 7 December, to paragraph 4 of article 84 and to paragraph 1 of article 125, both of Law no. 5/2004, of 10 February, the Board of Directors of ICP - ANACOM hereby approves the following regulation:
Chapter I
General Provisions
Article 1
Subject-matter and scope
1. The present regulation establishes the principles and rules that apply to selection and pre-selection in public telephone networks.
2. The provisions of the present regulation apply to pre-selection, and where appropriate on account of its nature, to call selection.
3. The following companies part of a selection or pre-selection process are bound to comply with this regulation:
a) Companies that, providing access to public telephone networks and the use of these networks, enable their customers to gain access to the services of any company that provides publicly available telephone services and that is interconnected therewith;
b) Companies that provide publicly available telephone services:
i. On a call-by-call basis, by dialling a company’s selection identification code;
ii. By means of pre-selection, with a facility to override any pre-selected choice on a call-by-call basis, by dialling a company’s selection identification code.
Article 2
Definitions and abbreviations
1. For the purposes of this regulation, the following definitions shall apply:
a) Subscriber access: physical or electromagnetic backbone that connects the subscriber to the company, to which a given subscriber configuration is associated;
b) Temporary access: subscriber access installed for no more than three months;
c) Working day: any weekday, from Monday to Friday, except for national holidays, Shrove Tuesday and Christmas Eve;
d) Company: entity providing publicly available networks and/or services;
e) Selected company: company providing publicly available services, through selection and/or pre-selection;
f) Prefix: set of digits that enable the selection of different formats of numbers, networks and/or services, in the scope of Recommendation ITU-T E.164, but which are not an integral part of the number, namely for calling line identification (CLI) purposes;
g) Company’ identification code: prefix conferring access to the company to be selected, which must be dialled immediately before the number to be called. This prefix has the format “10xy”, where “xy” identifies the indirect access company, and is allocated by the regulator;
h) Pre-selection: indirect access modality that requires a pre-designation of a company, which means that all comprised calls will be automatically forwarded through this company without the company’s identification code having to be dialled;
i) Regulator: ICP – Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ICP - ANACOM);
j) Call-by-call selection: indirect access modality that implies the dialling of a company’s identification code for call forwarding purposes.
2. For the purposes of this regulation, the following abbreviations shall apply:
a) CCBS: Completion of Calls to Busy Subscriber (ETSI EN 300 356-18);
b) CCNR: Completion of Calls on No Reply (ETSI EN 300 356-20);
c) CD: Call Deflection (ETSI EN 300 356-15);
d) CFB: Call Forwarding on Busy (ETSI EN 300 356-15);
e) CFNR: Call Forwarding on No Reply (ETSI EN 300 356-15);
f) CFU: Call Forwarding Unconditional (ETSI EN 300 356-15);
g) CLI: Calling Line Identification (ETSI EN 300 356-3 and ETSI EN 300 356-4);
h) ECT: Explicit Call Transfer (ETSI EN 300 356-15);
i) ETSI: European Telecommunications Standards Institute;
j) ISUP: ISDN User Part (ETSI EN 300 356-1);
k) DAP: Direct Access Provider;
l) PSP: Pre-selected Provider;
m) SS7: Signalling System 7 (ITU-T’s Q.7XX series Recommendations);
n) ITU-T: International Telecommunication Union - Standardization Sector.
Article 3
Selection and pre-selection scope
1. The following calls are eligible for selection or pre-selection:
a) National calls, i.e., calls originating and terminating within the national public telephone networks, both to geographic numbers and non-geographic numbers;
b) International calls, i.e. calls made in the international format, by dialling prefix “00”.
2. Calls originating in public pay phones or in temporary accesses shall be excluded from the selection and pre-selection scope, and so shall the following calls:
a) National calls:
i. To emergency services and internal services within the provider’s own network;
ii. Internet access services;
iii. Free of charge services to the calling subscriber.
b) International calls to services free of charge to the calling subscriber.
3. The selection and pre-selection cover calls where call forwarding (CD, CFU, CFNR, CFB, ECT) or automatic call-back (CCBS, CCNR) have been invoked, provided they are eligible.
4. The DAP or the pre-selected company may provide the following possibilities:
a) National calls;
b) International calls;
c) National and international calls.
5. The calls to be included in each of the options referred to in the preceding paragraph depend on the business offer of the DAP, save as provided for in paragraph 1 of article 7.
Chapter II
Principles and rules to be complied with by companies
Article 4
General principles
1. Companies shall cooperate between themselves to facilitate and ensure the quality of resources subject matter of the present regulation, namely by means of interconnection agreements, in observance of the legal framework in force and the provisions of this regulation.
2. The contractual relationships between the subscriber and the selected company are independent from the contractual relationships between the subscriber and the DAP, without prejudice to agreements to be established and interconnection obligations.
3. The pre-selected company is entitled to bill subscribers directly for the service provision, except where it is not the traffic owner, in which case it may only do so by means of an agreement with the respective owner.
4. The direct access suspension in the cases legally provided for implies the suspension of the indirect access service for the duration of the former.
5. Failure on the part of the subscriber to pay the DAP, except in those cases involving interruption of direct access, does not determine the suspension of the indirect access service.
6. Where the contractual position of the DAP subscriber is transferred, the pre-selection activated on the access which is the subject-matter of the contract ceases; in this situation, the DAP must send the PSP a communication regarding the deactivation date, pursuant to paragraph 4 of article 10.
7. The conclusion of a contract with a PSP presupposes that the same subscriber has entered into a contract with the DAP, that is, only a subscriber of a direct access contract may engage a pre-selection contract with the indirect access company.
8. For the purposes of the preceding paragraph, in cases of merger, acquisition or change in the company name of legal persons, the contract with the PSP is deemed to be concluded with the same contract holder.
Article 5
Information requirement
Companies are under the obligation to make available to the regulator all information requested by the latter in order to monitor selection and pre-selection.
Article 6
Obligations on the DAP
1. The following obligations fall upon the DAP:
a) To activate the pre-selection at the subscriber’s base of access, except where the subscriber indicates otherwise, and provided the implementation is technically feasible;
b) To ensure that the validation of call eligibility is performed as close as possible to its origination, except where the regulator has explicitly determined otherwise or a different agreement thereon has been reached by companies;
c) To distinguish the situation of non-eligible traffic in a call with selection and to ensure that an appropriate free-of-charge information is provided to the calling user, in a clear and audible way, through an online advertisement;
d) To implement support procedures to the pre-selection, that must not derogate from the framework in force and the provisions of this regulation.
2. The DAP must not reject pre-selection requests based on grounds resulting from its contractual or business relationships with the subscriber, except where the alleged argument concerns the justified suspension of the direct access.
3. The DAP shall submit the selected company, via SS7 (ISUP):
a) The CLI, as well as the correspondent information on the information restriction;
b) Identification code of the selected company, which shall be included in the “Called Party Number” (10xy + “Destination Address Number”);
c) The category of the number that activated the indirect access (“Calling Party’s Category”).
4. Whenever a call forwarding takes place, the DAP shall send to the PSP, via SS7 (ISUP), the calling number, the number where the forwarding was invoked from, and the destination number (including the identification code of the selected company 10xy).
Article 7
Specific obligations on the DAP with significant market power (SMP)
1. Companies with SMP which provide their subscribers with access to the services of any company providing publicly available telephone services, which is interconnected therewith, pursuant to paragraph 1 of article 84 of Law no. 5/2004, of 10 February, are under the obligation to:
a) Discriminate its provision according to all the options provided for in paragraph 4 of article 3, namely through two different PSP;
b) Include as eligible all traffic provided for as such in article 3.
2. Companies with SMP upon which selection and pre-selection obligations are imposed pursuant to paragraph 2 of article 84 of Law no. 5/2004, of 10 February, must comply with specific obligation imposed following a market assessment and under the terms defined therein.
Article 8
Obligations on selected companies
1. The selected company shall provide information to its subscribers on the maximum period of time necessary to install the respective service, and is responsible for the performance of its obligations.
2. It is incumbent upon the selected company to notify its subscribers, at the least one month ahead, of any alterations in traffic eligibility, even where such alterations result from factors outside its control.
3. The selected company is responsible for the implementation of the selective call barring, according to the subscriber’s request and its business provision.
Article 9
Pre-selection activation
1. The pre-selection process begins with the order submitted electronically by the PSP to the DAP, to a single contact point, based on the explicit consent of the subscriber, put forward by any means, comprising sufficient information to identify him/her as a DAP subscriber, including the name and telephone number, in full compliance with the legislation on protection of personal data and privacy.
2. The DAP shall make the pre-selection available no later than 5 working days from the date of the electronic request made by the PSP, pursuant to the preceding paragraph; the DAP shall also notify the PSP of the actual date of activation of the respective pre-selection, no later than two days after the activation has taken place.
3. Without prejudice to paragraph 1, the PSP must require from the subscriber a declaration of will through a document signed by the latter, and shall send to the DAP, on a monthly basis and under terms to be mutually agreed, all documents on pre-selection activations occurred in the previous 30 days, except where an agreement between the companies establishes otherwise.
4. Without prejudice to the right to compensation under the general terms, the PSP is responsible, before subscribers and the DAP, for pre-selection activations that do not correspond to the will of subscribers, under the following terms:
a) The PSP may not request subscriber payment for calls made through an improperly activated pre-selection;
b) The PSP must compensate the DAP for all costs incurred by the latter due to improper pre-selection activation.
5. If two or more PSO present requests to the DAP in different moments, for the same traffic option or for different options with traffic overlapping, the DAP shall implement the request received first, and shall reject all activation or deactivation requests, received within the five subsequent working days.
6. The selection and pre-selection shall prevail upon call barring, and for this purpose the subscriber declaration shall include the explicit consent to cancel or to maintain possible call barring facilities in the scope of those resources, without prejudice to the provision of paragraph 3 of article 8.
Article 10
Pre-selection deactivation
1. The pre-selection deactivation shall take place exclusively following the alteration or termination of the respective contract with the PSP, which is bound to convey electronically to the DAP, to a single contact point, the respective deactivation request, within two working days at the most.
2. The replacement of a PSP for another, for the same traffic option or for different options with traffic overlapping, shall occur based on a pre-selection contract between the subscriber and a new PSP, together with the termination addressed to the former PSP, to be delivered by the new PSP within two working days at the most.
3. In the cases referred to in the preceding paragraph, the new pre-selection procedure shall comply with article 9.
4. The DAP shall deactivate the pre-selection no later than five working days from the date of the deactivation request made by the PSP or the pre-selection implementation request made by the new PSP, as appropriate, complying at all times with the first request received, and rejecting all activation or deactivation requests received within the five subsequent working days. The DAP shall also notify the ceasing PSP of the actual date of deactivation of the respective pre-selection.
5. Contract alterations concerning changes in characteristics of subscriber access does not imply the pre-selection deactivation, which shall be made continuously available by the DAP, provided that the changes exclusively regard the selected access, as well as the following options:
a) Number (s);
b) Support technology;
c) Other options determined by the regulator.
6. In the case of point a) of the preceding paragraph, the DAP shall notify the PSP, at least five working days in advance, of the new number (s) and the respective date of alteration.
7. In case of contract alterations not provided for in paragraph 5, the DAP shall:
a) Require the subscriber, together with the request, to state clearly that he/she is aware that his/her request results in the pre-selection deactivation;
b) Notify the PSP, within at the most two working days from the reception of the request, that the provision of the resource has come to an end;
c) To notify the PSP of the date of pre-selection deactivation, under paragraph 4 hereof.
Chapter III
Monitoring, penalties, transitional and final provisions
Article 11
Monitoring
It is incumbent upon the regulator to monitor the compliance with the provisions of this regulation.
Article 12
Penalties
Infringements of the provisions in this regulation are offences under point bbb) of paragraph 1 of article 113 of Law no. 5/2004, of 10 February.
Article 13
Transitional provisions
1. Companies that, pursuant to paragraph 1 of article 84 of Law no. 5/2004, of 10 February, are under the obligation to make available selection and pre-selection resources, on the date of entry into force of this regulation, and selected companies that interconnect therewith, must make available selection and pre-selection resources, at 00.00 of the first Tuesday, 3 months after the entry into force of this regulation, comprising all traffic defined herein as eligible.
2. Companies that, pursuant to article 84 of Law no. 5/2004, of 10 February, are not under the obligation to make available, as DAP, the selection and pre-selection resources, yet provided them previously to the entry into force of this law, must, within three months from the entry into force of this regulation:
a) Adapt their interconnection agreements according to the present regulation, in case they decide to continue providing these resources;
b) Notify the respective companies of the provision termination, in case they decide to cease the provision.
3. Without prejudice to paragraph 2 of article 7, companies upon which the obligation to make available selection and pre-selection resources is imposed after the entry into force of this regulation, pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2 of article 84 of Law no. 5/2004, of 10 February, must fulfil this obligation accordingly, within the time limit to be defined following a market assessment.
Article 14
Repeal provision
1. The “Specification of Pre-selection by FTS providers”, approved by determination of the then ICP, of 12 May 2000, is hereby repealed.
2. The following determinations are also repealed:
a) Determination of the then ICP of 13 December 2000, on contracts for operator pre-selection and consumer information, as far as call barring and conclusion of direct and indirect access contracts are concerned;
b) Determination of the then ICP of 7 February 2002, on the statistical information on FTS providers;
c) Order of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of ICP - ANACOM of 13 October 2003, and determination of ICP - ANACOM of 16 October 2003, on pre-selection (call barring 10xy).
14 of December 2005. - The President of the Board of Directors, Pedro Duarte Neves.
