CASOPIS REPUBLICKE AGENCIJE ZA TELEKOMUNIKACIJE

In Romania, the sector of telecommunications has experienced constant growth after 1989. During this period, most of the markets were liberalized and the last restrictions removed were those related to fixed voice telephony and the supply of leased lines. The turning point was the period between 2001 and 2002 when, in the framework of Romania’s EU accession activities, the complex process of adapting the administrative and institutional framework and bringing the Romanian telecommunications legislation in line with the European acquis was initiated.

According to accession procedures, the Community acquis has been divided into 31 chapters, each corresponding to a specific sector. At the same time, in 2002, the European Union finalized the process of modernizing its legislation in the field of electronic communications by adopting the New Regulatory Framework.

Romania’s negotiations related to Chapter 19 – Telecommunications and Information Technology – were opened in December 2001 and closed on 8 November 2002. Our country committed itself to liberalizing the electronic communications market in its entirety and transposing the requirements of the new electronic communications acquis directly into its national legislation by 1 January 2003. Thus, during 2002, the first pillars of a competitive market were set: an independent regulatory body was established, the European legislation was transposed and the general authorization regime was approved in view of the liberalization of the fixed telephony market.

By 2003, most of the pieces of this new regulatory package were transposed into the national legislation and Romania became the first country to incorporate the provisions of the New Regulatory Framework.

After the transposition, the implementation of the harmonized legislation represented an absolute priority for the Romanian authorities. The establishment of an independent regulatory body, as one of the key requirements of the European acquis in the field of electronic communications, is essential for the development of sustainable competition. The establishment of an independent regulator in September 2002 created the premises for fair, impartial, and transparent regulation of the Romanian telecommunications market. The new regulatory body became fully operational withinthree months only and one year later the pillars of the new regulatory regime were functional – a general authorization regime in line with the New Regulatory Framework was enforced with regard to all electronic communications networks and services, the procedures for market definition and market analysis were drafted and applied according to the Competition Law principles and the Recommendation and Guidelines issued by the EC in 2002, and the first Reference Interconnection Offer of the incumbent was published as well. The Romanian electronic communications market was put on the road towards full European integration.

In the history of the Romanian regulator’srelations with the EU, one should distinguish between two different stages: the pre-accession period, between 2002 and 2006, and the period after 2007, when Romania became member of the European Union.

Given the fact that the European acquis was transposed during 2002, amidst Romania’s preparation for accession to the EU, the Romanian regulatory body decided to implement the regulatory framework as if Romania had already enjoyed the EU member status. Thus, during 2002-2006, our relations with the EU were developing in two directions: on the one hand, we were involved in the work carried out at the European Commission level, having been granted an observatory status and, on the other hand, as part of the Romanian public administration, we were involved in the EU accession process.

Hence, one of the main activities in the field of European affairs involved the presentation of the Annual Report dealing with the main developments in the sector. Such a Report, in its entirety, contained information on all of the 31 negotiation chapters, with the Romanian regulatory body responsible only for the electronic communications part of the document. In response to this report, the European Commission released a Regular Report on Romania’s progress towards EU accession. Since 2002, all of these regular reports have recognized the progress made by Romania in the field of electronic communications.

At the same time, as part of the negotiation process, the Romanian regulator was actively involved in the work of the Sub-Committee no.2 – Internal Market and Sub-Committee no.5 – Innovation, established between Romania and the European Commission for the purpose of periodical assessment of our country’s progress within the accession process. During the working sessions of these sub-committees, the development of the Romanian electronic communications and postal services sectors had been analyzed by the European Commission experts together with our experts, in light of the due harmonization with the European Union regulations.

The second dimension of the relations between the EU and the Romanian regulatory body during the period between 2002 and 2006 was our involvement in the work of the European Commission’s committees and working groups. As a candidate and, later on, as an acceding country, Romania had the opportunity to participate in the European legislative process enjoying an observatory status. We took due advantage of this opportunity and decided to be active participants at European level. In the period between 2002 and 2006, our specialists attended meetings of technical bodies organized at the European Commission level, while bilateral meetings with Commission’s representatives were held at the same time on various topics such as Article 7 procedures, universal service, etc. Moreover, in 2004, the Romanian regulator became full member of the Independent Regulators Group (IRG) and an observer in the European Regulators Group (ERG).

After the 2007 accession to the EU, the relations of the entire Romanian administration with the EU have intensified, with the regulator participating in two major processes. Once again, at the national level, the regulator took part in the process of coordinating Romania’s position concerning European activities, whereas the other important role was related to taking an active and direct part in the European integration process.

One of the main tasks of the European regulatory framework in the field of electronic communications was the creation of a single market. Thus, the Framework Directive comprises specific provisions aimed at consolidating the internal market, such as Article 7, under which the regulatory authorities have to consult the European Commission and other National Regulatory Bodies (NRAs) upon the adoption of certain regulatory measures likely to affect the internal market, with a view to ensuring a transparent and consistent implementation of the regulatory framework throughout the EU. Since its accession, Romania duly observed the Article 7 procedure and several notifications have been submitted.

Another important aspect of our relations with the EU is our participation in the activities of the working groups set up at the European Commission’s level such as the Communications Committee, the Radio Spectrum Committee, the Postal Directive Committee or the Telecommunications Conformity Assessment and Market Surveillance Committee, to name just a few. Participating in these working groups meant a double gain, for both the regulator and the Romanian electronic communications market - on the one hand, our representatives shared views and experience with their counterparts in other Member States and, on the other hand, the interests of the Romanian market were promoted at European level. As the Romanian electronic communications market is a very specific one, not resembling those in other Member States, it was very important to ensure that Romania is well represented in the working groups where most pieces of implementing legislation are adopted.

Romania has put in place a complex coordination mechanism aimed at establishing common national positions towards European activities. The regulator of the electronic communications and postal services sector is part of this coordination mechanism, with an important contribution pertinent to drafting the documents, whenever its expertise is required. A good example was the review of the European electronic communications legislative framework, a process that lasted more than two years due to its complexity. The negotiations were lead by the Ministry for Communications and Information Society, with ANCOM being asked to provide the technical expertise regarding specific and sensitive issues.

In 2007, Romania became a full member of the European Regulators Group (ERG), which has recently been replaced by the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), established by a recent Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council as an exclusive forum for cooperation among and between regulators and the Commission, providing expertise and establishing confidence by virtue of its independence, the quality of its advice and information, the transparency of its procedures and methods of operation, and its diligence in performing its tasks, for the benefit of the development of the internal market. To this end, this year ANCOM attended the inaugural meeting of BEREC on 28 January. BEREC gathers the heads of the 27 national telecom regulators and is assisted by the Office that provides the necessary professional and administrative support to BEREC's work.

At the same time, ANCOM activity in IRG has also intensified. The expertise of our staff was recognized among our European partners, many of our colleagues actively participating in the drafting of important ERG/IRG documents. Bogdan Dospinescu, who was elected co-chair of the End-User Project Team (EU PT) in 2007, being aware of the fact that protecting the interest of end-users is the cornerstone of the regulatory framework, faced his first main challenge when re-launching the work of the project team after a whole year of inactivity. Among the most important issues that the EU PT is dealing with are the transparency of retail tariffs for electronic communications – a report had been delivered at the end of 2008 and adopted in early 2009 - and the opinion on the review of the scope of universal service – which is to be delivered by mid-2010, including the present debate on the inclusion of broadband access in universal service. Our specialists have been involved in several other projects, bringing important contribution to IRG/ERG reports on the symmetry of fixed call termination rates, mobile calls termination rates, interconnection, international roaming reports, etc.

The accession to the European Union was a successful story for the Romanian electronic communications market, although the path was not an easy one, and many challenges still lie ahead. However, if we take a look at market statistics, we may recognize real progress to the benefit of the Romanian citizens.

In this context, the value of the Romanian electronic communications market followed a continuously increasing trend, from €3.2 billion at the end of 2002, to almost €5 billion by the end of 2008. In 2002, the penetration rate of fixed telephony stood at around 19.6% whereas the one of mobile telephony amounted to 24%. Since then, the measures taken by the regulatory authority, the investments made by the operators, and the increase in the purchasing power of the Romanian citizens have triggered, to a large extent, an increase in the electronic communications market value. At present, according to the statistical data released by ANCOM corresponding to the first half of 2009, the fixed telephony penetration rate reached a historic maximum of 24.1% at population level, while the mobile telephony penetration rate reached 113.5%, in terms of active SIM cards.