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Telecom operators need to make their offers more transparent

25.06.2015

According to the data available onveritel.ro, the telecom offer comparison tool developed by ANCOM, in Romania, the persons interested in purchasing telephony and Internet services, or packages including such services, have to choose from among 300,000 offers made available by the telecom operators.The National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) supports the users by imposing on the operators new informing obligations as regards their own offers. The new obligations will enter into force on the 27th of June 2015. In Romania, there are almost 23 million mobile telephony SIM cards in use and more than 16 million broadband internet connections, whereas almost 7 million households have access to paid TV retransmission services, according to the latest statistics published by ANCOM (Infografics here).
The new ANCOM Decision no. 158/2015 on the obligation of informing the end-users establishes the types of information the providers need to make available to the end users and also extends on the providers of Internet and TV program retransmission services the obligations of informing the end-users, in addition to the telephony providers who are already subject to such obligations ever since 2009. ANCOM Decision aims at enabling the users to make well-informed choices and to choose the offers which are the most suitable to their communication needs. According to the statistical data available on veritel.ro, in Romania, an average user of mobile telephony achieves 155 MB internet traffic every month, sends 72 national SMS (64 on-net and 8 off-net) and talks on average 202 minutes on-net (201 to mobile and 1 to fixed networks) and 47 minutes off-net (40 to mobile and 7 to fixed networks). An average fixed telephony user talks, every month, 45 minutes on-net and 32 minutes off-net.
According to new legal provisions, not only the telephony providers, but also the Internet and audio-visual program retransmission providers will have to post on their websites and to make available to the users, before the conclusion of the contract, certain information such as: the rates applicable to the tariff plan, the services within the respective tariff plan, as well as the allotted resources, the way in which these services are to be used, the maximum timeframe and the conditions for installing the services, the contract duration and the terms for its cessation, information on any limitations, blockings or ceilings applied by the operators. Moreover, the Internet access providers will specify the maximum download and upload speed, as well as the minimum guaranteed speed, where such a speed exists (where a minimum guaranteed speed does not exist, this will also be specified).
As well, the current existing information on the telecom operators’ website as regards the coverage will be clarified or supplemented, so as to indicate the geographic outdoor coverage of the electronic communications services they provide, specifying the localities covered and the technologies by means of which the services are provided (for instance, as regards mobile telephony, 2G, 3G etc).
Furthermore, the providers of electronic communications services will have to post, on the homepage of their websites, a direct and easily detectable linkbearing an explicit name towards the framework agreement and the provision terms for prepaid cards, as well as to keep an online archive of the framework agreements and of the tariff plans that are no longer available, but are still used by subscribers.
ANCOM Decision no. 158/2015 on the obligation of informing the end-users will enter into force on 27 June 2015 and will repeal the ANCOM Decision no. 77/2009. The new ANCOM Decision was triggered by the legislative amendments which took place at the European and national level after the Authority’s adoption of the Decision no.77/2009, in force until 27 June 2015, by complaints received from the end-users and by the natural market evolution, which made that certain provisions of Decision no.77/2009 to be out of date or insufficient.
Further details on the telephony, internet and television services are available under the Infocentre section on the ANCOM webpage, here.