Press Releases

Topical Telecom Issues Approached with the Industry at Timisoara

28.06.2012

 

On Thursday, 28 June 2012, during a meeting with the electronic communications industry in Timisoara, the representatives of the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) presented the new provisions of the legal framework in the field, highlighting the way in which these provisions impact the provider–end-user relationship. Data on the Authority’s control activity were also provided during this meeting. The gathering with more than 120 industry representatives from Arad, Caras-Severin, Hunedoara and Timis counties was the ninth and the last of the series of “ANCOM Regional Meetings” held in 2012.
The meeting was held in order to enable ANCOM to offer the electronic communications providers in this part of the country explanations and clarifications concerning the new legal framework, which brought important amendments in matters such as the contracts concluded with the end-users, the general authorisation of the providers of electronic communications networks and services, the radio spectrum management, the associated numbering resources and technical resources, the security and integrity of the electronic communications networks and services, and the sanctioning regime.
The most important aspects and issues approached today in the discussions with the providers concerned the contracts concluded with the end-users, the security and integrity of the electronic communications networks and services, the interferences occurring in the border areas, as well as the infrastructure draft law. As for the contracts concluded with the end-users, some providers expressed their discontentment regarding the obligation to include in these contracts certain information which they deem are not of interest for the subscribers. The ANCOM representatives explained why the information concerned is relevant and how it will enable the users to take informed decisions. The providers also requested clarifications on the minimum contract duration, as set under the new legislation. The ANCOM representatives stressed the need of transparency in the relationship with the end-users and communicated to the participants that the Authority elaborated a guide for providers which offers details concerning the obligations they have. ANCOM thus wished to support the providers, explaining them which are the correct means of implementation of the legal provisions. 
Another tackled topic referred to the security and integrity of the electronic communications networks and services, the providers considering that the security auditing from own resources is an issue, arguing that it would be a burdensome expense, especially in the case of the small providers. The ANCOM representatives announced that two new decisions are to be adopted in this regard, one concerning the conditions and procedure for the reporting of security incidents and the second one relating to the establishment of minimum security measures which must be implemented by the providers. The Authority’s representatives invited the participants to get involved in the elaboration of these decisions and to send their comments when the draft decisions are to be published for consultation.
As for the interferences which the providers in Timisoara face at the borderline, the Authority is permanently carrying discussions with the authorities from the neighbouring countries in view of their resolution. With regard to the infrastructure law, the ANCOM representatives stressed that its adoption is further expected, as the law is currently under debate in the Parliament.   
During the same meeting held in Timisoara, the ANCOM representatives presented the amendments of the decision on the conditions applicable to the porting of telephone numbers. Thus, the activation term of a ported number is reduced from 3 to maximum one working day, as provided for by the European rules, whereas the related administrative procedures are to be carried out in 3 working days instead of 10. Furthermore, the end-users will be warned by a distinctive tone on the fact that they have called a ported number in all cases where the tariff charged might exceed the tariff they would have legitimately expected.
778,928 numbers were ported as of 31 May 2012, since the portability service was introduced at end-2008. Out of these, 530,853 were mobile telephone numbers, 248,075 fixed telephone numbers (of which 233,374 fixed telephone geographic numbers and 14,701 location-independent numbers - for fixed telephony).
The largest amount of mobile telephone numbers were ported into the networks of the following mobile telephony providers: Vodafone (181,522); Cosmote (176,875); Orange (166,823); RCS&RDS (4,909) and Telemobil (719). As for the fixed telephony providers, most numbers were ported into the networks of UPC (70,193); RCS&RDS (65,400); Orange (46,599); Vodafone (42,808) and Romtelecom (11,744).
As of 31 May 2012, an amount of 14,153 fixed telephone numbers were ported in Timis (the acceptor provider which ported the largest amount of fixed telephone numbers is Orange – 5,871), 2,059 numbers in Arad (RCS&RDS – 955), 650 numbers in Caras-Severin (RCS&RDS – 423) and 3,554 numbers in Hunedoara (UPC – 1,359).
As regards the controls conducted by ANCOM on the providers of electronic communications networks and services and of postal services, between 1 January 2011 and 31 May 2012, ANCOM undertook 237 controls in Timis county which resulted in the transmission of 38 notifications and 5 warnings.
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