Romania's telecom regulator Ancom has decided to deregulate parts of the fixed-line market after concluding there is sufficient competition. Ancom's analysis showed that the retail market for fixed-line access and the wholesale markets of fixed call origination tend towards effective competition. Consequently, the authority is deregulating these markets and is setting a one-year transitional period to withdraw the obligations previously imposed on incumbent Romtelecom.
On the retail market for access at a fixed location, Romtelecom will no longer have the obligation to offer its subscribers the possibility to use the services of any provider of publicly available telephone services with which Romtelecom is interconnected through carrier selection/pre-selection procedures. Also, Romtelecom will be able to bundle fixed services, with an end to the obligation to provide access and related services separately.
At the end of the transition period, Romtelecom will no longer have the obligations of transparency, non-discrimination, supply of certain services and granting of access to certain facilities, and price control in the wholesale market for call origination at fixed locations.
The competitive environment on the wholesale market for call switched transit services is somewhat different, the authority concluded. Its analysis showed that the existing market entry barriers are still high and that it is unlikely that the alternative operators can significantly improve their position in the period covered by the current decision given the substantial territory coverage of Romtelecom’s network and the large amount of direct interconnection agreements Romtelecom has with both alternative fixed operators and mobile operators. Ancom concluded that Romtelecom remains a provider with significant market power on this market. Therefore, the obligations of transparency, non-discrimination, supply of certain services and access to specific network elements and associated infrastructure, as well as tariff cost-orientation continue to be maintained on this market.
The maximum tariff which Romtelecom will be able to charge for the provision of interconnection for call switched national transit will be set in the following period by means of a cost calculation model.
