04.02.2021

 

According to the adopted Action Plan, the main priorities of ANCOM in 2021 are as follows: transpose the provisions of the European Electronic Communications Code into the secondary legislation, hold the spectrum auction for awarding usage rights in the bands envisaged for the provision of broadband electronic communications public networks and publicly available services, conduct the projects linked to the Infrastructure Law and review the secondary legal framework applicable to electronic communications services and to postal services.

Transposition of the Communications Code

This year’s Action Plan includes activities which concern the updating of the secondary legal framework, after the provisions of the Directive on the establishment of the European Electronic Communications Code are first transposed into the primary national legislation.

In this regard, the Authority will review the regulations on the general authorization regime regarding the provision of electronic communications networks and services, the procedure for awarding radio frequency usage rights, the management and administration of numbering resources, the regulations regarding communications to the Single National Emergency Call System, as well as the setting of security measures to be taken by providers and the reporting of incidents with a significant impact on the electronic communications networks or services.

Radio spectrum

An important decision to be adopted this year concerns the organization of the selection procedure for awarding usage rights for the spectrum resources available in the 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 1500 MHz, 2600 MHz, 3400-3800 MHz frequency bands, for the provision of broadband electronic communications public networks and publicly available services, which implies setting the conditions for awarding the usage rights and the rules for conducting the selection procedure and holding the auction.

To decide on the appropriateness and timeline for the organization of a spectrum auction for the bands above 24 GHz, the Authority plans to launch a questionnaire targeted at the national electronic communications market on the appropriateness of such an approach.

As well, the Authority plans to update the RO-IR radio interfaces under Decision nr. 311/2016 on licence-exempted radio frequencies or radio frequency bands.

Infrastructure law no. 159/2016

In continuation of implementing the provisions of the Infrastructure Law, in the first part of next year the Authority plans to set indicative tariffs for access to the pillars of a network operator, in pursuit of facilitating the development of electronic communications networks and of the physical infrastructure elements necessary to support them.

This year, ANCOM will also continue the necessary steps in order to make the inventory of the public electronic communications networks and of the associated physical infrastructure elements (ATLAS Project), which is to rely mainly on data received from the providers of public electronic communications networks in Romania.

Moreover, ANCOM will analyse the conditions for access to the physical infrastructure built with the participation or support of the central or local public administration authorities or financed, totally or partially, from public funds.

Regulation of electronic communications services

ANCOM will start the process of reviewing the wholesale market for high-quality access services provided at a fixed location, to reassess the need of imposing ex-ante regulatory measures. As well, in the second half of the year, the Authority will review the decision on collecting the statistical data in the field of electronic communications and its application.

Furthermore, in order to catalyse the benefits of technological progress to the users’ advantage, the Authority will update the decision on licence-exempt radio frequencies or radio frequency bands and the regulation of amateur service.

Regulation of postal services

The updating of the general authorization regime regarding the provision of postal services, the assessment of the Regulatory Strategy in the postal service field for 2017-2020 and the elaboration of the Regulatory Strategy for 2021-2024 are some of the Authority’s main projects in the postal sector.

In the universal service area, ANCOM will update the normative act on setting the conditions and the procedure for assessing the observance of the quality objectives by the universal service provider. It will also review the weighted average cost of capital for the provision of universal service and will analyse the net cost for the provision of the universal postal service in 2019.

Action Plan

The approved ANCOM 2021 Action Plan was published on the Authority’s website and is available here.