20.03.2024

After going through the national and European public consultation processes, the decision on the withdrawal of individual obligations incumbent on the providers of fixed and, respectively, mobile voice call termination services that had been designated with significant power in the previous round of market analyses entered into force, following publication in the Official Journal of Romania.

By ANCOM's decision, all obligations imposed at national level on operators identified with significant market power on the relevant markets corresponding to voice call termination services provided at fixed locations, respectively at mobile locations, on the public telephone networks, are withdrawn.

This decision was based on the analyses carried out by ANCOM on the two call termination markets, in order to assess the opportunity to maintain, modify or withdraw previously imposed obligations. The analyses showed that, despite certain barriers to market entry, the competitive circumstances had changed since the previous round of market analyses. An important element for the conclusions of the analyses was the entry into force, as of 1 July 2021, of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/654, which regulates, at European level, the maximum rates that can be charged for termination services. Thus, having removed the most important competition-related problem that could arise in the identified markets, i.e.  the possibility for termination service providers to manifest their market power by excessively increasing tariffs regarding the termination of calls from other networks onto their individual public telephone networks, the Authority deemed that the risk of other competitive problems emerging at national level is minor.

Since the operators who are buyers of termination services and are affected by these measures need to be aware of the changes on the market in advance, in the case certain obligations imposed on the providers with significant power are withdrawn, ANCOM established a transitional period of one year from the date of entry into force of the decision. During this period, specific obligations previously imposed will be maintained under the same conditions.

Decision no. 147/2024 on the relevant markets in the electronic communications sector corresponding to voice termination services provided at fixed locations, respectively corresponding to voice call termination services provided at mobile locations, and on withdrawing the existing individual obligations, was published in the Official Journal of Romania no. 224, of 18 March 2024, and entered into force on the date of publication.