Monthly Monitoring report - Czech Telecommunication Office

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Monthly Monitoring report - Czech Telecommunication Office
Monthly
                                                                                   Monitoring
                                                                                   Report
September 2014
                                                              Newsflash on telecommunications
                    Content
  Š Š From the decision-making                           CTU´s Council is complete again
      practice................................. 2          Ondřej Filip, who decided to leave the CTU´s Council at the end of August, was re-
                                                           placed by Jan Duben. So far, Mr. Duben served as director of the Department of digi-
  Š Š Situation on the electronic                          tal economy and protection of consumer at the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The
      communication market...... 2-4                       Government appointed him in the position of the Member of the Council until 2019.

  Š Š Virtual operators................. 4               European Commission relaxes the regulation of fixed lines
                                                            On October 9, the European Commission promulgated the Amendment
  Š Š Market analysis.................... 5                 of Recommendation in which it newly defines only four relevant markets
                                                            instead of previous seven. The Commission has canceled existing markets
  Š Š Regulation of telecommunicati-
                                                            no. 1 and 2 of the Recommendation. Fixed and mobile connections to the
      on in the EU. . ......................... 5
                                                            internet remain under the control of regulator. The Office will prepare new
  Š Š The CTU checked in September.6 -7
                                                            methodology to the Measure of General nature on the basis of amended
                                                            Recommendation, which will determine the list of relevant markets.
  Š Š CTU on the side of consumer.7
                                                         House of Deputies endorsed the Act on Electronic Communications in the first reading
  Š Š Univerzal service.. ............. 7                  The limit of the amount of contractual fine on early termination of
                                                           contract, concluded for an indefinite period of time, will now only
  Š Š THEME OF THE MONTH: Discus-                          concern consumers. According to existing legal regulations, operators
      sion document on implementation                      shall not charge any subscriber for early withdrawal more than one
      of Universal service........................8-14     fifth of the sum of remaining monthly flat fees or contracted minimum
                                                           of monthly payment. Amendment is now heading to the Senate.
  Czech consumer will remain protected as elsewhere in Europe
    On Friday, September 26, the er about this change and customer has of contract leading to deterioration of
House of Deputies endorsed the the right to withdraw from the contract. position of subscriber.“ However, Union
Amendment of the Act on Electronic It is, however, general principle, which legislation does not admit any such ad-
Communications which substantially does not concern telecommunications ditional condition.
restricts rights of consumers of tel-                                                                   The Amendment will be dis-
ecommunication operators. How-                                                                       cussed in the Senate. The CTU,
ever, already during the debate on On the basis of proposed changes of contractual con- as the authority applying the Act
the Amendment the CTU pointed ditions participants have the right to repeal contract on Electronic communications
out that the proposed modifica- without any sanction. Not later than one month before expects that the Upper Chamber
tion are in conflict with European such a change participants must be informed in cor- will put the Amendment in har-
Directive on Universal service.          responding form and, simultaneously, they must be in- mony with the Union´s Directive
    Compared with the wording formed about their right to cancel such a contract with- so that the Czech Republic will
of the Directive national modifica- out any sanction if they do not accept new conditions. be protected against the risk of
tion approved by the House limits                  Article. 20 Para. 4 of the Directive 2002/22/EC the process of infringement
rights of consumer to react to the                                                                      When deciding disputes the
situation when telecommunication                                                                     CTU will continue to respect the
operator unilaterally changes the con- only as it is anchored also in § 1752 of right based on the Directive which
tract. Currently, the operator has four the Civil Act, for example.                              has, as harmonizing instrument of
obligations towards a customer in this            There is a new provison in the con- the European Commission, greater le-
case (broken down on page 2 in Article tract according to which contract may gal power than the Act which would
Change of contract allows subscriber to be terminated without any sanction un- implement it incorrectly and which
leave), inter alia, it must inform custom- der condition that „it is essential change would not comply with it.
Monthly Monitoring report - Czech Telecommunication Office
§            From the decision-making practice of the CTU:
                        Contractual fine must be a part of consumer contract and must be definite
           Arrangements forming contractual fine cannot be a part of the so-                                   itself (document on which consumer at-
           called general commercial conditions but must exclusively be a part                                 taches his or her signature)…“.
           of consumer contract itself under which a client attaches his signa-                                      Decision further states that provisions
           ture. Moreover, this arrangement must precisely specify which obli-                                 on contractual fine, which became an in-
           gation consumer must violate that supplier may seek fine. This fol-                                 tegral part of contractual arrangement
           lows from final decision promulgated by the CTU in September in the                                 between petitioner and respondent, does
           dispute of one of clients of the company DIGI Czech Republic.                                       not specify which obligation subscriber
                 The company Company DIGI Czech                lid. Given the finding of the Constitutional    must violate in order to seek contrac-
           Republic demanded the payment of con-               Court of the Czech Republic sp.zn. I ÚS         tual fine. Formulation contained in the
           tractual fine from its customer. It based           3512/11 it stated that „…commercial con-        contract („If User violates any obligation
           its claim on contractual relation resulting         ditions shall not serve contractor to hide,     determined by the Contract, including
           from the contract dated October 2006.               in frequently confusing, intricately formu-     violation without any fault on the side of
           Respondent refused to pay contractual               lated and in small print written form, the      User (…), the company DCZ is entitled to
           fine because the service was not working            arrangements which are disadvantageous          demand from user payment of contractual
           and yet he paid proportional part of it.            for consumer and about which it assumes         fine at the amount of 5000 CZK for each
                 While the body of first instance admit-       that they will rather escape attention of       individual violation of obligations…“) can,
           ted the claim of contractual fine of petition-      consumer (…). Within the framework of           therefore, be considered as indefinite and
           er, the Chairman of the Council of the CTU.         consumer contracts arrangements found-          invalid according to § 37 of the Civil Code.
           In its decision on the appeal it deduced            ing contractual fine cannot be principally            For the above reasons the Chairman of
           that the arrangement of contractual fine in         part of the so-called general commercial        the Council of the CTU denied petitioner
           the wording of submitted contract is inva-          conditions, but only of consumer contract       a claim for the payment of contractual fine.

            Change of contract is the basis for the right of subscriber to leave
           The Right of operator to change unilaterally a contract is counterbalanced                              If the operator unilaterally changes the
           in the Act on Electronic Communications (ZEK) by Measures which, in such                            contract, in addition to the immediate im-
           a case should protect customer as a weaker contractual party. Subscriber
           cannot namely intervene significantly in the draft of subscriber contract and                       pact on the price of services provided, with-
           the Act does not grant him/her the right to change contract unilaterally.                           out allowing to its consumers, as a weaker
               In provisions of § 63 Para. 6 of Act on         using method which subscriber has chosen        contractual side, not to accept this newly
           Electronic Communications we can find               for sending bills and
                                                                                                               stipulated price and to employ the option
           four obligations of operators:                       4. to inform subscriber about the change
            1. to publish information concerning the           of essential requirements of the contract       to choose another provider of services,
           change of contract in each of its establishments,   or change of other provisions leading to        this can be understood as an obvious at-
            2. to publish information concerning the           deterioration of position of subscriber with
           change of contract in the Internet,                 instruction that he/she is entitled to termi-   tack against above described social interest
9 / 2014

            3. to inform subscriber about this change          nate the contract without sanction.             which cannot enjoy protection of the Act.
                                                                                                               connection Fixed line, ISDN2, ISDN30
              Situation on the electronic communication market                                                 and SIP1. Package VoIP Komfort offers for
                                                               to non-public telephone networks with-          871.20 CZK/monthly 1,000 free minutes
                                                               out limitation of volume of free calls.         of calls to mobile networks in the Czech
                                                                    Starting from 1st September the            Republic and calls to international desti-
                Starting from September the com-                                                               nations, for example for calls to majority
                                                               package of free minutes in mobile net-
           pany O2 reduced in tariffs VoIP O2 Busi-                                                            of EU countries, USA and Canada. The
                                                               works cannot be activated on VoIP Lines,
           ness and VoIP O2 Trend, designated for                                                              unused portion of free minutes is not
                                                               which, for 1,815 CZK/monthly, contained         transferred in the following billing period.
           VoIP lines, basic prices of the service VoIP
                                                               3,000 free minutes of calls to mobile net-      Number of purchased packages must
           Line – unlimited national call by 145.20
           CZK/monthly (from 363 CZK/monthly to                works in the Czech Republic. Supplemen-         1 Supplementary service VoIP line SIP single
                                                               tary package (Package of free minutes to        (independent connection with SIP protocol),
           217.80 CZK/monthly). Basic price of the                                                             VoIP line SIP series (two or more SIP connecti-
           service includes local and remote calls in          mobile networks on VoIP Lines) was re-          on associated by supplementary service series
                                                                                                               line), VoIP line SIP DDI (two or more connec-
           peak hours and off-peak hours to fixed              placed by package VoIP Komfort, which
                                                                                                               tions with SIP protocol associated by supple-
            networks in the Czech Republic and calls           is designed for VoIP lines of the type          mentary service DDI).

           Monthly monitoring report                                                -2-                                               September 2014
correspond to the number of voice             the nearest data limit. O2 further prolon-         iff Red all-in) prices increased in the
channels of a given type of connection.         gated marketing event „Higher tariff for           variant without commitment to 1248.75
Free minutes can be applied for calls           the price of lower one“ for the service O2         CZK/month (original price was 1100,00
within the framework of O2 Team Com-            Mobile internet connection.                        CZK/month). In the tariff Red LTE Premi-
bi2. Calls beyond free minuts are -charged                                                         um (formerly tariff Red Premium) prices
according to tariff used by customer.                                                              were increased in the variant without
      Starting from 1st September O2                  Společnost Vodafone od 13. září up-          commitment to 1873.75 CZK/month
adjusted conditions for automatic calls         ravilStarting from 13th September the              (original price was 1665.56 CZK/month).
from fixed networks. As a connection            Company Vodafone modified offer of flat                   Vodafone further offers the service Data
from fixed network to mobile network            tariffs. Customer can have available tariffs       beyond package. After exhausting of the
O2 is considered, besides calls to mobile       Smart 50, Smart 100, Smart 250, Red LTE,           basic volume of data data limit will be auto-
numbers to O2 mobile voice service,             Red LTE Plus and Red LTE Premium. In case          matically increased depending on the type
also calls to numbers of virtual operators      of the tariff Smart 50 customer will receive       of voice tariff. In case of crossing of volume of
BLESKmobil, Gorila mobil and Bonerix.           50 free minutes to all networks within the         data of tariffs Vodafone "First step for a child
      In September O2 changed its offer         framework of the Czech Republic and un-            free of charge" and Vodafone "First step" data
of fixed subscriber connection to the In-       lilimited SMS in its own network within the        limit will be automatically increased by an-
ternet network. Existing tariff programs        framework of the Czech Republic. Price of          other 20 MB for 20 CZK. In case of crossing
with obligation and automatic prolonga-         calls beyond free minut is 3.49 CZK/minute         of volume of data of tariffs "Red to network
tion (Internet Start+, Internet Optimal+,       (tariffication 1+1), price of SMS is 1.51 CZK/     for partner", Fair tariff 3993 , Smart 50, Smart
Internet Aktiv+) are not offered any more       SMS. Part of voice tariff is also the so-called    100 and Smart 250 data limit will be auto-
actively because they were replaced by          data package LTE with data limit of 50 MB.         matically increased by another 50 MB for 49
services designated as Internet Start Plus,     Price of the tariff is 249 CZK/month in the        CZK. In case of crossing of volume of data of
Internet Optimal Plus and Internet Aktiv        variant with commitment for 24 months              tariffs Fair tariff 14994, Red LTE, Red LTE Plus
Plus. Besides adjustment of prices these        and 311.25 CZK/month in the variant with-          and Red LTE Premium data limit will be auto-
new tariff programs with obligation and         out commitment. In case of the tariff Smart        matically increased by another 250 MB for 49
automatic prolongation after 12 months          100 customer will receive 100 free minutes         CZK. Service "Data beyond the framework of
in all speed variants are replenished for       to all networks within the framework of            package" also applies to mobile connection
customers (natural persons) by free dis-        the Czech Republic and unlimited SMS in            to the Internet.5 In case of crossing of volume
tribution of digital television O2TV. Basic     its own network within the framework of            of data data limit will be automatically in-
configuration of tariff programs includes       the Czech Republic. Price of call beyond           creased by another 250 MB for 49 CZK.
supplementary service O2TV Start offer-         the framework of free minutes is 3.49 CZK/                Vodafone also offers to its consumers
ing reception of 21 free television chan-       minute (tariffication 1+1), price of SMS is        the opportunity to buy additional volume of
nels. The service Internet Start Plus can       1.51 CZK/SMS. Part of voice tariff is also the     data services. n case of voice tariffs Smart 50,
one have now for 349 CZK/monthly, In-           data package of LTE with data limit of 100         Smart 100, Smart 250, "Red in the network
ternet Optimal Plus for 499 CZK/month-          MB. Price of the tariff is 349 CZK/month in        for partner", Fair tariff 399, Vodafone "First
ly and Internet Aktiv Plus for 599 CZK/         the variant with commitment for 24 months          step for a child free of charge" and Vodafone
monthly. Prices and other conditions in         and 436.25 CZK/month in the variant with-          "First step" have a sufficient volume of data
tariffs without obligations (Internet Start,    out commitment. In case of tariff Smart 250        with the data limit of 250 MB for 99 CZK/
Internet Optimal, Internet Aktiv) remain        customer will receive 250 free minutes to all      month. In case of voice tariffs Fair tarif 1499,
in force unchanged, with the exception          networks within the framework of the               Red LTE, Red LTE Plus, Red LTE Premium and
of replenishment of free distribution of        Czech Republic and unlimited SMS to all

                                                                                                                                                       9 / 2014
                                                                                                   in case of data tariff Mobile connection 500
digital television O2TV Start.                  networks within the framework of the               MB, Mobile connection 1.5 GB, Mobile con-
      O2 prolongated until the end of the       Czech Republic. Price of call beyond the           nection 4 GB and Mobile connection 10 GB
year validity of marketing event „Internet      framework of free minutes is 3.49 CZK/min-         it is sufficient volume of data with data limit
in mobile“ with higher data limit for a price   ute (tariffication 1+1). Part of voice tariff is   of 1 GB for 99 CZK/month.
of lower data limit. The offer is earmarked     also data package LTE with data limit of 250              Starting from 1st September the Voda-
for subscribers of tariffs FREE who have        MB. Price of the tariff is 549 CZK/month in        fone came with the offer of unlimited calls
simultaneously, within the framework of         the variant with commitment for 24 months                                    (continue on page 4)
their tariffs, contracted Internet in mobile    and 686.25 CZK/month in the variant with-          3 This tariff is bound to special offer „Tariff
with minimum data limit of 200 MB. Each         out commitment.                                    for student“ – 25% discharge from monthly
subscriber, who will increase his data limit,         In tariff Red LTE (formerly tariff Red)      price (399 CZK /month) for the period of 12
                                                                                                   month.
will pay, for the period of two months from     prices increased to 749 CZK/month in the
                                                                                                   4 This tariff is bound to special offer „Tariff
the day of increase of data limit, monthly      variant with commitment for 24 months              for student“ – 67% discharge from monthly
flat price corresponding to the tariff with     (original price was 699 CZK/month), in             price (1,499 Kč/month) for the period of 12
2 Service O2 Team Combi allows customers        the variant without commitment cus-                month.
of O2 to create voice VPN employing existing    tomer will pay 936.25 CZK/month (origi-            5 Specifically there are data tariffs Mobile
telephone connections (situated in fixed ne-                                                       connection 500 MB, Mobile connection 1,5 GB,
twork of O2) and mobile stations active in O2   nal price was 873.7 CZK/month). In case            Mobile connection 4 GB and Mobile connec-
network .                                       of the tariff Red LTE Plus (formerly tar-          tion 10 GB.

Monthly monitoring report                                              -3-                                                 September 2014
(continue from page 3)                              calls is charged with the amount of 3.50 CZK/       Free minutes of tariffs Telefon 100 Business,
           in its own network within the framework of          minute (tariffication 60+1). Price of SMS is        Telefon 150 Business and Telefon 250 Busi-
           the Czech Republic for the period of 30 days        1.90 CZK/SMS..                                      ness can be newly applied in international
           earmarked for pre-paid Card for student.                                                                calls, for example to neighbouring countries,
           Customer, who will buy pre-paid Card for                                                                Italy, France, Great Britain, USA etc. Tariff Tele-
           200 CZK, will get advantage in the form of                                                              fon Unlimited Business includes newly 1,000
           unlimited calls in the network of Vodafone                                                              free minutes of calls to international zone 0
           for the period of 30 days. After the expiry of           Starting from September 2014 the com-          beyond free minues earmarked for calls to
           the deadline of 30 days customer may call to        pany UPC extended the opportunity of ap-            public fixed and mobilech networks in the
           four selected numbers in the network Voda-          plication of free minutes of call of tariffs ear-   Czech Republic (except calls to lines begin-
            fone for 1.90 CZK/minute, price of other           marked for business men and entrepreneurs.          ning with 8XY and 9XY).

                 C hanges in the market of mobile virtual operators
                           Šlágr mobil
               It started its activities on 1st Sep-
               tember 2014                                    On 1st September virtual operator Šlágr mobil entered the market of mobile
               company: BEI MULTIMEDIA INTER-                 services offering in total three basic flat tariffs "Šlágr Volání", "Super Šlágr
               ACTIVE s.r.o.                                  CALL" and "Zlaté Šlágr CALL".
               network operator: T-Mobile Czech
               Republic a.s.

                                                              Virtual operator Mobil from ČEZ came for the month of September with the spe-
                         Mobil od ČEZ                         cial offer of discount at the amount of 25 % in voice packages "Volám občas" and
               special offer of voice tariffs                 "Volám rád". After activation of relevant package during validity of special offer,
               company: ČEZ Prodej, s.r.o.                    consumer will be charged (during five months) voice package "Volám občas" for
               network operator: O2 Czech Re-                 the price of 150 CZK/month (standard price of 200 CZK/month) ad Voice package
               public a.s..                                   "Volám rád" for the price of 255 CZK/month (standard price 340 CZK/month).

                           Nej MOBIL                          On 1st September virtual operator Nej MOBIL included in the offer of mo-
               new tariff                                     bile services new tariff "Nej v Síti", which allows unlimited calls and sending
               company: Nej TV a.s.                           of SMS for the price of 199 CZK/month in the „network“ NEJ CZ. Operator
               network operator: T-Mobile Czech Republic      further cancelled the offer of additional data package of internet in mobile
               a.s.                                           "Nej Komfort" with data limit of 1,500 MB and the price of 409 CZK/month.

                        NETBOX Mobil                          Starting from 1st September virtual operator NETBOX Mobil offers its new
               new date packages                              additional data package of the internet in mobile with capacity of 600 MB
9 / 2014

               company: SMART Comp. a. s.                     and 1,200 MB. Operator further reduced the price of existing additional
               network operator: T-Mobile Czech               data package of the internet in mobile with data limit of 300 MB from origi-
               Republic a.s.                                  nal price of 200 CZK/month to the level of 130 CZK/month.

                                                              Starting from 3rd September virtual operator LAMA mobile offers new package of
                         LAMA mobile                          50 SMS with price of 50 CZK/month*. In month of September 2014 operator also
               nový price-list                                modified the offer of wthe tarif "CHYTRÁ LAMA" in the variant with the price of 249
               company: LAMA MOBILE a.s.                      CZK/month, which newly contains 150 free minutes and 50 free SMS to all networks
               network    operator: Vodafone                  in the Czech Republic and data limit at the level of 150 MB. Operator ceased to offer
               Czech Republic a.s                             the tariff "CHYTRÁ LAMA" in the price variant of 399 CZK/month.

                             opencall                         Starting from 18th September virtual operator opencall reduced prices of data pack-
               new price-list                                 ages with limits of 150 MB, 300 MB, 500 MB and 1,000 MB. Operator also reduced
               company: DH Telecom a.s.                       price for call and sent SMS within the framework of its own „network“ to the level of
               network    operator: Vodafone                  1 CZK/minute, and/or 1 CZK/SMS.
               Czech Republic a.s.

           *    Validity of SMS packages coincides with billing period which starts on the 3rd day in a month and terminates on the 2nd day of the following month.

           Monthly monitoring report                                                   -4-                                                   September 2014
Regulation of telecommunication in the EU                                                  Market analysis
On 1st September Vice-President of              introduced on 10th September new Eu-           Market no. 4 – wholesale
the European Commission Ms Nellie               ropean Commission proposed.                    (physical) access to the in-
Kroes announced three events from                                      •                       frastructure of the network
the field of radio spectrum – infor-                 On 25th and 26th September 20th           (including shared or full un-
mation on the report of former Eu-              Plenary session of the Association of reg-
                                                                                               bundling of subscriber line)
ropean Commissioner for commerce                ulators BEREC was held in Rome within
                                                the framework of which Working plan of         in fixed location and market
Pascal Lamy which includes Recom-                                                              no. 5 – wholesale broadband
                                                BEREC for 2015 and Strategy BEREC for
mendation concerning utilisation of                                                            access in networks of elec-
                                                years 2015 – 2017 were discussed. Euro-
the UHF band and concerning in-                                                                tronic communications
                                                pean regulators agreed that they pre-
ventory of radio spectrum.                      pare common standpoint to the current
     The third event was publication of Im-                                                        During September the CTU be-
                                                proposal for the regulation concerning
plementing decision of the Commission                                                          gan notification process on draft
                                                unified telecommunication market, ap-
no. 2014/641/EU from 1st September                                                             analysis of relevant markets no. 4
                                                proved report on regulatory account-
2014 on Harmonized technical condi-             ing practice for 2014, report on the data      and no. 5. The European Commis-
tions of utilisation of radio spectrum by       collection for international roaming for       sion accepted both proposals on
                                                Q4 2013 – Q1 2014, report on monitoring        10th October.
wireless sound devices to ensure news
programs and organizing public social           of quality of service of connection to the
                                                                                               Market no. 6 – wholesale
events (PMSE) in the Union. The Czech           Internet in the context of network neu-
                                                trality, and complied with the request of      end segments of leased cir-
telecommunication Office received a ma-                                                        cuits regardless of technol-
                                                Albanian regulator concerning granted
jor responsibility for this regulation of the                                                  ogy employed to ensure
                                                observer status in BEREC sessions.
European Union, Ministry of Industry and                                                       leased or reserved capacity
                                                                       •
Trade enlisted itself as coordinator. Mem-           On 16th October 2014 top representa-
ber States will inform the Commission                                                               The Council of the CTU discussed
                                                tives of BEREC will introduce medium-term
about discharge of this decision not later                                                     draft analyses of relevant market no.
                                                strategy of BEREC and Working plan for
than nine months after it becomes effec-                                                       6, supplemented by findings of public
                                                2015 within the framework of „2nd BEREC
                                                                                               consultation. On 4th September the Of-
tive on publication in the Official Journal     Stakeholder Forum Meeting“. After subse-
                                                quent discussion with all interested parties   fice forwarded the draft to the Office for
of the European Union.
                                                both documents will be finalized so that       protection of economic competition for
                       •
                                                they can be endorsed on December BEREC         its standpoint.
     Newly elected President of the Euro-
pean Commission Jean-Claude Juncker             meeting.
                                                                                               The auctions of frequencies
    Information from working groups of CEPT ECC                                                Within the framework of preparation
                                                                                               for the auction of radio frequencies in
      The project team CEPT/ECC/PT1 focused on the issues of mobile communication              bands of 1,800 MHz and 2,600 MHz the

                                                                                                                                            9 / 2014
 (IMT) on its 47th meeting in Zagreb dealt with comments from public consultation              CTU published on its Internet pages
 to the proposal of Report ECC no. 53, processed on the basis of the mandate of the            Results of public consultation includ-
 European Commission. Public consultation confirmed proposal of future harmonized              ing settlement of comments received
 channel arrangement of 700 MHz band, compatible with channel arrangement in                   to draft conditions of the auction.
 Asia-Pacific and American regions. Report will be submitted to November meeting                     On its Internet pages the CTU
 of the ECC for adoption.                                                                      published also communication to
      Meeting of the working group CEPT/ECC/CPG ensuring preparation of European               the standpoint concerning com-
 countries for the World´s radiocommunication conference ITU (WRC-15) was held on              ments of subjects to Basic princi-
 23rd – 26th September in Marseille. The Meeting discussed and endorsed updated                ples of tender procedure relating to
 wording of CEPT reports and Common European proposals (ECP) concerning individ-               frequency band 3,600–3,800 MHz.
 ual agenda items of WRC-15. For future meetings it will remain to discuss, in particular,          Next steps in preparation of both
 the issues of protection of development of the service in the band under 694 MHz,             tender procedures depend on the
 suitable particularly for pilotless instruments, automotive applications in the band of       process of discussing amendments of
 75 GHz and particularly compliance with proposals of identification of another bands          Government Regulation no. 154/2005
 for IMT. As a fundamental change can be considered shift of bands 1,350 – 1,375 MHz,          Coll., on Determination of the amount
 1,375 – 1,400 MHz, the band 2,700 – 2,900 MHz and the band of 5,350 – 5,470 MHz in            and method of calculation of charges
 the category of unsupported bands for identification of IMT.                                  for the use of radio frequencies and
                                                                                               numbers, as later amended.

Monthly monitoring report                                            -5-                                            September 2014
The CTU checked in September …
                                                             ...test operation of base stations LTE                                                                        of September the CTU performed physi-
           …performance of communication ac-                 in the band 800 MHz – on 30th Septem-                                                                         cal inspection of portability of telephone
           tivities without authorization – the Of-          ber 936 base stations were in test opera-                                                                     numbers of fourteen selected virtual
           fice discovered four cases of performance         tion LTE in the band 800 MHz, in perma-                                                                       mobile operators. Currently evaluation
           of communication activities without au-           nent operation 520 BTS. At the beginning                                                                      of results of inspection takes place and in
           thorisation and will open legal procedure in      of September, following the information                                                                       justified cases acts preceding beginning
           these cases.                                      in the media, rose sharply the number of                                                                      of legal procedure will be performed.
           …observance of conditions of indi-                reports received, however, only in each fif-                                                                  Collaboration of the CTU with Česká ob-
           vidual authorisation for the employ-              teenth case it was a legitimate case of jam-                                                                  chodní inspekce – When checking wireless
           ment of radio frequencies – CTU per-              ming. In September the CTU received 600                                                                       doorbells in Bystřice nad Perštejnem within
           formed two inspections of observance of           reports of jamming of television, what                                                                        the framework of regular inspection of tel-
           conditions of individual authorisation for        represents ten times the normal monthly                                                                       ecommunication of end and radio devices
           the employment of radio frequencies, and          number. There are 140 reports more than                                                                       controllers discovered no shortcomings. In
           subsequently it issued two calls to eliminate     during the whole year 2013. 40 BTS were                                                                       other inspections of sellers in Jablonec, Varns-
           shortcomings and began legal procedure            determined as jamming devices in Sep-                                                                         dorf and Železný Brod sale of radio controlled
           in these cases.                                   tember what, in relation to the number of                                                                     models of cars working in the bands of 31
           …observance of conditions of General              all BTS operated in test and permanent op-                                                                    MHz, 32 MHz, 45 MHz, 49 MHz and 81 MH was
           authorisation no. VO-R/12/09.2010-                eration, represents 2.75 authorized reports                                                                   discovered. Those radio equipment cannot
           12 for the employment of radio fre-               in 100 BTS , since launching of test opera-                                                                   be operated in the Czech Republic without
                                                             tion it is 73 BTS LTE in the band 800 MHz                                                                     individual authorisation for employment of ra-
           quencies and operation of devices for
                                                             in total. The ratio of eligible cases of jam-                                                                 dio frequencies. Shortcomings discovered will
           broadband transmission of data in
                                                             ming to the numbers of received reports                                                                       be resolved by the ČOI within its competence.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
           bands from 2,4 GHz to 66 GHz – the
                                                             dropped from usual 10 – 20 % in April - Au-
           CTU performed 44 inspections. In 25 cases         gust to 6.7 % in September.
           it discovered shortcomings, particularly em-      …portability of telephone numbers                                                                                                         Postal service
           ployment of indoor frequencies outside            – in September the CTU performed phys-                                                                             The Office finished inspection of obser-
           building. In relevant cases the Office called     ical inspection of portability of telephone                                                                   vance of obligations to label postal consign-
           for elimination of discovered shortcomings        numbers according to the Measure of                                                                           ments so that from the label is clearly evident
           and legal procedures were or will be com-         General nature stipulating technical and                                                                      in which operator of postal services postal
           menced.                                           organisational conditions for implemen-                                                                       consignment was submitted. Inspections
           …employment of radio frequencies                  tation of portability of telephone num-                                                                       were performed from 3rd March until 30th
           without authorisation – the CTU per-              bers, and namely in the company T-Mo-                                                                         May 2014 and were focused on 15 operators of
           formed in total 13 inspections focused at         bile and Vodafone including their brands                                                                      postal services in total. Shortcomings discov-
           subjects employing frequencies without            MOBIL.CZ and Oskarta and within the                                                                           ered rested particularly in that labels of con-
           authorisation or after its expiry, particularly   framework of inspection no serious short-                                                                     signments of some subjects controlled did not
           operation of wifi devices outside permitted       comings were discovered. However, the                                                                         allow to identify positively operator of postal
           frequency bands and telephones DECT 6.0           Office still considers as problematic long                                                                    services. The Office evaluated inspections and
           according to USA standard. In 13 cases the        notice periods which are precondition                                                                         now acts preceding beginning of administra-
           CTU discovered employment of frequen-             of portation of numbers. In the month                                                                         tive procedure are performed.
9 / 2014

           cies without authorisation and will open                     The Survey of inspection activities in perfomance of control of Postal services and subscriber disputes for the month of September 2014

           legal procedure in these cases.                                                                                                                            number of
                                                                                                                                                                   certifications or the number
                                                                                                                                                                                                      the
                                                                                                                                                                                                    numbe        the      decided in
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   fines imposed

           …sources of jamming of operation                                                                                                                                                           r of     numbe        favour
                                                                                                                                                                       controls       of notices
                                                                                                                                                                                                    admini       r of
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            amount in CZK

                                                                                                                                                                                           to
                                                                                                       kind of activity                                                                             strative   decisio
           of electronic communication devices
                                                                                                                                                                                                                         participant

                                                                                                                                                                                       eliminate
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       provider

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  number

                                                                                                                                                                                of                  procee        ns
                                                                                                                                                                   in total           deficiencie
                                                                                                                                                                              which                  dings     promul
                                                                                                                                                                                            s

           and networks, provision of services of                                                                                                                                                              gated*)
                                                                                                                                                                                                    comme
                                                                                                                                                                                                     nced
                                                              1.   The number of certifications notifying business activities issued (§ 14 of AEC)                   14

           electronic communications or opera-                2.
                                                              3.
                                                                   The number of changes of certifications notifying business activities (§ 14 of AEC)
                                                                   Performance of communication activities without certification
                                                                                                                                                                     33
                                                                                                                                                                      4                                 1         1                                 1      20000

           tion of radiocommunication services
                                                              4.   Observance of conditions of general authorisations                                                61                    25          24        29                                28      282500
                                                                   a) for the operation of public communication networks and associated facilities                              0          0            0         0                                 0        0
                                                                   b) for provision of services of electronic communications                                                    0          0            3         3                                 3       9000
           – the CTU performed in total 234 local in-              c) for utilization of radio frequencies and operation of instruments (radio equipment)
                                                              5. Inspection of radio frequencies                                                                    249
                                                                                                                                                                               61          25
                                                                                                                                                                                           4
                                                                                                                                                                                                       21
                                                                                                                                                                                                       11
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 26
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 10
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   25
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    9
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           273500
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           147000

           vestigations of which investigations were             a) utilization of radio frequencies without authorisation for their utilization
                                                                 b) Observance of conditions of individual authorisation for utilization of radio
                                                                                                                                                                               13

                                                                                                                                                                                2           2
                                                                                                                                                                                                       7

                                                                                                                                                                                                       3
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 4

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 4
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    4

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    3
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           101000

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           16000
                                                                 frequencies
           closed in 190 cases of jamming of DVB-T               c) locating sources of interference of operation of electronic communication facilities
                                                                 and networks, provision of services of electronic communication or operation of                    234                     2          1         2                                  2      30000

           reception in total, one case of jamming of            radiocommunication servicesradiokomunikačních služeb
                                                              6. Inspection of numbers for the purposes of management of numbers (number of
                                                                                                                                                                      0                     0          0         0                                  0           0
                                                                 inspection calls)
           meteoradar and nine cases of jamming of               a) on objection against the settlement of reclamation of service provided
                                                                 b) utilization of numbers violating authorisation for their utilization
                                                                                                                                                                                0
                                                                                                                                                                                0           0
                                                                                                                                                                                                       0
                                                                                                                                                                                                       0
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  0
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  0
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    0
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    0
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                0
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                0

           public mobile networks GSM and UMTS. As            7. Resolution of subscribers´ disputes
                                                                 a) on objection against the settlement of reclamation of service provided
                                                                                                                                                                      0
                                                                                                                                                                                0
                                                                                                                                                                                                     1076
                                                                                                                                                                                                       1
                                                                                                                                                                                                               18741
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  4
                                                                                                                                                                                                                         4069 13088
                                                                                                                                                                                                                           3    0

           sources of jamming were identified particu-           b) on objection against the settlement of reclamation of charging of services
                                                                    ba) on access to data services with specific price (data and voice)
                                                                                                                                                                                0
                                                                                                                                                                                0
                                                                                                                                                                                                      12
                                                                                                                                                                                                       0
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 28
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  0
                                                                                                                                                                                                                           9
                                                                                                                                                                                                                           0
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                3
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                0
                                                                      baa) on access to data services with specific price provided on the Internet
           larly 40 BTS LTE operating in the band 800              network or on other data networks (Dialer)
                                                                 c) on reimbursement of price for services (monetary performance)
                                                                                                                                                                                0

                                                                                                                                                                                0
                                                                                                                                                                                                       0

                                                                                                                                                                                                     1056
                                                                                                                                                                                                                1202

                                                                                                                                                                                                               18706
                                                                                                                                                                                                                         490

                                                                                                                                                                                                                         4057 13082
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       599

           MHz three reprehensible phones DECT and               d) others
                                                              8. Withholding of information pursuant to § 115 of AEC
                                                                                                                                                                                0
                                                                                                                                                                                                      2
                                                                                                                                                                                                       7         3
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 3
                                                                                                                                                                                                                           0    3
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  2000  38500

           two active television antennas causing jam-        9. Others

                                                                   IN TOTAL
                                                                                                                                                                     12

                                                                                                                                                                    322
                                                                                                                                                                                            4

                                                                                                                                                                                           33
                                                                                                                                                                                                      37

                                                                                                                                                                                                     1151
                                                                                                                                                                                                                69

                                                                                                                                                                                                               18853     4069 13088 2097 2926500
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   59  2438500

           ming of GSM and UMTS networks.                     *) the total number of decisions promulgated includes also cases of termination of administrative proceedings in the form of resolution, i.e. cases of death of subscriber, extinction of a
                                                              company, interruption of proceedings ex lege (bankruptcy), incompetency to decide etc.

           Monthly monitoring report                                                                          -6-                                                                                                                      September 2014
The Survey of inspection activities in perfomance of State control of electronic communications for the month of September 2014

                                                                                                              the number of the number of                         the number              Rozhodnuto
                                                                                                             certifications or measures in       the number of         of                     ve                            fines imposed
                                                                                                                inspections    the interest of                                     the     prospěch                                                  the number of
                                                                                                                                                 administrative   administrati
                                                                                                                                   proper                                      number of                                                             administrative

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     amount in CZK
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Others
                                                                                                                                                  proceedings          ve
                                                 kind of activity                                                               provision of                                    decisions                                                             proceedings

                                                                                                                                                                                         participant
                                                                                                                                                    from the      proceeding

                                                                                                                                                                                                       provider

                                                                                                                                                                                                                           number
                                                                                                                          of      services                                     promulgate                                                            passing to the
                                                                                                             in total                              preceding            s
                                                                                                                        which pursuant to §                                         d                                                                  next month
                                                                                                                                                      month       commence
                                                                                                                               6 Para. 4 and
                                                                                                                                                                       d
                                                                                                                                 § 37 of the
  1. 1 The number of certifications notifying business activities issued                                         0
  2. 2 The number of changes of certifications notifying business activities                                     0
  3. 3 Performance of postal activities without certification                                                    0                                     0              0           0                                          0           0                 0
  4.   Observance of conditions of the Act on Postal services (hereinafter APS) and other
     4                                                                                                         14                    0                 3              1           1                                          1      60000                  3
       regulations
     5 Observance of postal conditions pursuant to § 6 of the Act on Postal services                                     7           0                 3              1           1                                          1      60000                  3
     6 Observance of conditions of quality requirements pursuant to the Decree no. 464/2012 Coll.                        7           0                 0              0           0                                          0        0                    0
  5.
     7 Resolution on objections against the settlement of complaint pursuant to § 6a of the APS                 0                                      4              1           0         0            0          0                                      5
  6. 8 Resolutions on disputes pursuant to § 37, Para 3, Letter a) of the APS                                   2                                      0              0           0         0            0          0                                      0
  7. 9 Withholding of information pursuant to § 32a) of APS                                                                                            0              0           0                                          0        0                    0
  8. 10 Others                                                                                                  0                    0                 8              5           5                                          4      45000                  8
     11 administrative procedure pursuant to § 37a, Para.3, Letter a) of APS                                             0           0                 2              1           1                                          1      15000                  2
     12 administrative procedure pursuant to § 37a, Para.3, Letter b) of APS                                             0           0                 1              0           0                                          0        0                    1
     13 administrative procedure pursuant to § 37a, Para.2 Letter f) of APS                                              0           0                 1              0           0                                          0        0                    1
        administrative procedure dealing with mail shipments contrary to § 7, Para.1 of APS
     14                                                                                                                  0           0                 2              4           2                                          2      27000                  4
         - § 37a, Para.2 Letter e) of APS
        administrative procedure pursuant to § 24, Para. 7, Letter a) of the Act on Protection of consumer
     15                                                                                                                  0           0                 2              0           2                                          1      3000                   0
        (provision of services in prescribed quality)

        TOTAL                                                                                                  16                    0                15              7           6         0            0          0        5      105000                16

                    CTU on the side of consume r                                                                                                                   who are not interested in automatic
                                                                                                                                                                   activation of additional data package,
During September of 2014:                                                                                                                                          should have the option to deactivate
                                                                                                                                                                   this service. Currently, the Office in this
     ŠŠ The CTU opened 1,076 administrative procedures concerning subscriber                                                                                       case performs operations before open-
disputes between a person performing communication activity on the one hand                                                                                        ing administrative procedure because
and a subscriber on the other hand, regarding monetary payments and proposals                                                                                      of potential suspicion of utilization of
to start procedure concerning objection against settlement of complaint of prices                                                                                  aggresive commercial practices, both
or publicly available service of electronic communications provided, which the                                                                                     with respect to its own „opt-out“ nature
CTU decides according to § 129 of the Act on Electronic Communications.                                                                                            of relevant data package (i.e. subscriber
      Š Š The CTU promulgated 18,741 decision in case,                                                                                                             must deactivate the service which he/
                                                                                                                                                                   she did not order, otherwise the ser-
    of which 18,706 decision in case of monetary payments (payment of pric-                                                                                        vice may be used and consequently
es for services).                                                                                                                                                  charged), and with respect to time
                                                                                                                                                                   concurrence of change of contractual
      FUP Data in Vodafone                                                      cording to the statement of Vodafone,                                              conditions with update of systems of
     On 13th September the company                                              subscribers are continuously informed                                              Internet, mobile, voice and SMS self-ser-
Vodafone changed its contractual con-                                           about the status of utilisation of basic                                           vice, mobile application "My Vodafone",
ditions. Within the framework of this                                           data package via SMS messages, to-                                                 services of operators in call centres and
change it introduced charged service                                            gether with the information that they                                              sellers in branch officies scheduled from
„Data and framework of packages“,                                               are approaching the border of agreed                                               12th September until 14th September,
where, after exhaustion of basic data                                           data tariff and subsequently the service                                           when subscribers had no chance to de-
package belonging to relevant tariff                                            „Data above the framework of package“                                              activate immediately the service, which
employed, additional data package                                               will be activated. According to earlier                                            was activated without their orders just
will be automatically activated. Ac-                                            statements of Vodafone, subscribers,                                               in these days.

                                           Universal service                                                                                                                                                                                                          9 / 2014
                                                                                                                                                                   General authorisation no. 1
            Public telephones                                                           Breakdown of costs and revenues
                                                                                                                                                                   On 12nd September the CTU published
                                                                                On 3rd September the CTU promul-
      On 15th September the CTU started                                                                                                                            in the Volume 17/2014 of the Telecom-
                                                                                gated Measure of General nature no.
administrative procedure with O2 regard-                                                                                                                           munication Journal General authorisation
                                                                                OOP/4/09.2014-6, stipulating method-                                               č. VO-S/1/09.2014-5, which modified con-
ing imposition of obligation to provide                                         ology of purposeful division of costs                                              ditions for provision of services of electron-
partial service of public telephones .                                          and revenues and their assignment and                                              ic communications. New legal adjustment
                                                                                determines structure of information                                                of General authorisation will allow easier
      Concerning draft decision public
                                                                                submitted. Via this Measure the Office                                             access to the so-called identifiers inevita-
consultation was started on 3rd October                                         stipulates methodology of purposeful                                               ble for changing operator, change of ex-
within the framework of which it is pos-                                        division of costs and revenues for provid-                                         tent of services or termination of provision
                                                                                er of Universal service and for enterprises                                        of services of electronic communications.
sible to submit comments during one
                                                                                with significant market power, on which
month. Part of the decision is annex con-                                       this obligation was imposed within the                                             This General authorisation becomes effec-
taining all.                                                                    framework of corrective measures.                                                  tice on 1st December 2014.

Monthly monitoring report                                                                                           -7-                                                                                            September 2014
Discussion document on implementation of Universal service in the sector of postal services and
           effects of recent changes in some countries regarding extent of obligations of the Universal service
                                    Original document, the whole wording of Czech translation and information on potential sending of comments can be found here.

                       Basic postulates                     ing group of ERGP will be processed                   which postal service remain or become
                 Purpose of the Universal postal ser-       together in the ERGP Report on imple-                 indispensable for user.
           vice is to safeguard service including           mentation of Universal service in the                      Falling volume of standard letter
           minimum extent of services of deter-             sector of postal services and analysis of
                                                                                                                  consignments requires rationalization of
           mined quality which will be provided in          impacts and other changes of extent
           all Member States for affordable price in        and long-term sustainability of obliga-               letter activities of providers of Universal
           favour of all users regardless of their ge-      tions to provide Universal service (USO),             service (PUS) within the framework of
           ographical position. It was stipulated in        which will be published before the end                existing extent of obligations of Universal
           Regulatory framework (started with the           of 2015.                                              service. In this respect some countries de-
           Green Paper) in 1992) as a reaction to for-          Volume of postal consignments are                 cided or may decide in future to change
           mer needs and communication environ-             decreasing almost in each European
                                                                                                                  extent of obligations to provide Universal
           ment. This environment has changed.              country. This is a significant shift after
                 At the beginning of the nineties the       years of increase of volume of postal                 service. This can be done by change of

                                                                                                                                                                     T h eme o f t h e mont h
           average trend of annual volume of postal         consignments. Said change relates, in-                extent of Universal service (US) within the
           consignments in 12 EU Member States              ter alia, to digitizing of economy. ERGP              framework of flexibility ensured by the Di-
           was plus 6,1 % - today annual volumes are        Group notices, for example, that the rate             rective on Postal services. Some countries
           falling in the same rate. Although the rate      of decline of this volume registered in               already began to make changes which
           of decline in individual Member States           European countries during the last pe-
                                                                                                                  should be attentively monitored now.
           differs considerably, it is necessary to deal    riod of known data (2008-2012) differs
           with this trend together with changing           from the decline from -4 % to -40 %,as                ERGP Group should consider if and how
           communication behaviour. It should be            shown in Figure no. 1. Considering this               this development will fall on sustainability
           noted that in countries outside the EU (for      development it is necessary to find out               of Universal postal service and how these
           example New Zealand, Canada, USA and
           Australia) transformation of obligations of
           Universal service already took place (see
           below). Therefore ERGP Group (European
           Regulators Group for Postal Services) now
           considers what steps should Member
           States take to adopt their obligations. It
           also considers long-term sustainability of
           existing requirements of the Directive on
           Postal Services, including their potential
           changes which could increase efficiency
9 / 2014

           of the Directive as solving problems of
           social inclusion throughout Europe. The
           result of this reflection is elaboration of
           this document, which is the starting point
           for public consultation and discussion
           with wider group of interested parties in
           the workshop.
                 Said workshop will also lead to the
           second step of workflow, the analy-
           sis and verification of sustainability of
           Universal postal service in the context
           (predicted) of decrease of the volume
           of consignments and also considering
           suitability of existing regulatory frame-
           work in the sphere of Universal service.         Figure no. 1: Domestic consignments per capita (without express consignments)
           Conclusions of public consultation, dis-         On the basis of data provided by „Report of the ERGP on indicators in the postal market“ from May 2014
           cussion within the framework of the              (available online at the address: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/ergp/docs/documentation/2014/
           workshop and analysis of expert work-            ergp-13-33-rev.1-ergp-report-on-market-indicators_en.pdf).

           Monthly monitoring report                                                 -8-                                                    September 2014
newly emerging problems will have to be         number of days of deliveries to five days        impact on costs of the sector of postal
                           solved in future.                               a weak and introduction of service of de-        services and their users.
                                 Struktural decline of volume of           liveries to community mailboxes. Con-
                           postal consignments is not the problem          gressional Budget Office estimates that              Identification of problems
                           of European postal markets only but is          these changes would save USPS 10.9
                           evident also in majority of postal mar-         bil. USD, and/or 8,1 mld. USD during ten            Current situation of obligations of
                           kets throughout the world (potential ex-        years. However, the American Congress
                                                                                                                                        Universal service
                           ception are some emerging markets). In                                                                Assuming that the extent of ob-
                                                                           did not approve any of these changes.
                           some countries regulators, governments                                                           ligations to provide Universal ser-
                                                                                This discussion document contains
                           and providers of Universal service have                                                          vice in each country corresponds to
                                                                           assessment of the current situation              description in WIK-Consult reports
                           taken steps leading to reform of Univer-
                                                                           concerning obligations to provide Uni-           „Principal changes in the sector of
                           sal postal services in reaction to the drop
                                                                           versal service considering latest market         postal services (2010-2013)“, some
                           of volume.
                                 In 2014 Australian post stated that it    and regulatory development. Also on              additional information were re-
                           will be forced to perform reform to re-         the basis of factual information men-            ceived from members of the ERGP
                           solve 30% decrease of volume of postal          tioned in the news of WIK-Consult in in-         group on service and elements
                           consignments during five years. It intro-       dividual countries (WIK-Consult Coun-            which currently contain the obliga-
                           duced slower class of services for corpo-       try Reports) „Principal changes in the           tion of Universal service.
                           rate customers as a supplement of its pri-      sector of postal services (2010-2013)“                All domestic regulatory bodies
                           ority service (D+1 within the framework         were identified five main categories of          (NRA) which answered, (23) stated
T h eme o f t h e mont h

                           of metropolitan regions of capitals or in       problems and these categories were               that all recommended individual
                           the same city; D+2 between metropoli-           examined via specific questions : cur-           consignments are part of obliga-
                           tan regions of capitals and rural regions       rent situation of obligations of Universal       tions to provide Universal service,
                           and between individual rural regions).          service;                                         whereas collective recommended
                                 In December 2013 Canadian post             •        changing extent of obligations         mail is included in obligations of
                           announced the plan to shift, within five                                                         Universal service (USO) in 13 coun-
                                                                            to provide Universal service during the
                           years, one third of addresses, to which it                                                       tries (Belgium, Croatia, France,
                                                                            last 10 years;
                           is still delivered to the door, to deliveries                                                    Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Malta,
                                                                            •        obligation of Universal service
                           to community mailboxes. Canadian post                                                            Norway, Portugal, Romania, Serbia
                                                                            and subscribers of the market;                  and Sweden) plus Austria only when
                           maintains that these changes are inevita-
                                                                            •        net costs and disproportionate         consignment is submitted to the
                           ble to accommodate to lower volumes of
                                                                            burden during the last 10 years;                post office (and not when it is filed
                           postal consignments. According to their
                           estimates the shift to community mail-           •        determination and mecha-               in the sorting center).
                           boxes will save 400 to 500 mil. Canadian         nisms of funding of obligations of Uni-              Minimum number of postal of-
                           dollars each year. Two third of addresses        versal service.                                 fices1 is not determined by the Act
                           in Canada have already introduced deliv-             On the basis of investigation of            within the framework of obligations
                           eries to centralized place as, for instance,    events in European countries during the          of Universal service (USO) in Ireland
                           mailboxes in entrance hall of apartment         last years the ERGP Report will be focused       and Sweden. Last of above men-
                           building, post office or to community           on potential variants of further customi-        tioned countries stated that in the
                           mailboxes or rural mailboxes.                   zation of requirements on Universal ser-         Act on Postal services it is stated :

                                                                                                                                                                               9 / 2014
                                 New Zealand post negotiated new           vice, including consideration of potential       „Density of contact places and ac-
                           obligation for provision of Universal ser-      changes of the Directive, considering            cess places must respect needs of
                           vice (USO). Since July 2015 basic delivery      changing communication behaviour, to             users“.
                           service will be provided at least three                                                               Minimum number of postal ac-
                                                                           ensure that legislators/regulators have
                           days in a weak in urban centers and at                                                           cess places (mail boxes) is not re-
                                                                           sufficient flexibility for stipulation of sus-
                           least five days in a weak in PO boxes and                                                        quired in 4 countries (Bulgaria,
                                                                           tainable extent of products of Universal
                           in rural areas (considering dependence                                                           France, Greece and Sweden). In Nor-
                                                                           service. Report will assess which postal         way this element is not properly set
                           of non-postal services on rural delivery
                                                                           services may continue to be indispensa-          within the framework of obligations
                           service). New Zealand post maintains
                                                                           ble for users in an increasingly digitized       of Universal service (USO) and only
                           that these changes are necessary con-
                           sidering decrease of volume of postal           world and in situation when volume of            „sufficient number“ of collecting
                           consignments from 1.1 bil. pieces in 2002       postal consignments decreases. Simul-            boxes is stated.
                           to 771 mil. pieces in 2013.                     taneously, potential risks of stipulated              In Portugal criteria of density of
                                  In the USA during last three years       obligations of Universal service will be         post offices and access places must
                           the US Postal Service - USPS registered         considered as obstacles of entry in the          be determined considering distri-
                           loss at the level of 26 bil. USD, particu-      market for more effective operators and          1 Directly stipulated obligations of Universal
                                                                                                                            service (USO) or derived from the criteria of
                           larly as a consequence of decrease of           as limitation for existing postal operators      territorial division within the framework of ob-
                           volume. USPS proposed reduction of the          providing services having subsequent             ligations of Universal service (USO).

                           Monthly monitoring report                                             -9-                                                September 2014
bution of the population on the                  removal of specific services from         adaptations of obligations of the
           territory of the country, distance               the extent of obligations to pro-         Universal service (USO). In this re-
           between acess places, urban or ru-               vide Universal service (for example       spect 7 countries (France, Ireland,
           ral character of covered areas and               picture postcards, commercial re-         Italy, Latvia, Lituania, Romania and
           development of transportation and                sponse consignments, P. O. boxes,         Netherlands) considered changes in
           demand. Process of determination                 confirmation of filing in Malta); limi-   needs or preferences of consumers
           is still under way and currently USP             tation of number of delivery days,
                                                                                                      to be a strong reason to open this
           must maintain minimum values of                  post offices and collecting boxes (in
                                                                                                      process. Also, the need to protect
           density which it offered on 31rd De-             Netherlands ); removal of the ser-
           cember 2013.                                     vice of delivery of collective mail (in   end users contributed to it, namely
                Almost all domestic regulatory              one country); changes of targets of       in Croatia, France and Latvia, and
           bodies (NRA) which answered, re-                 quality of service (limitation of num-    also the need to reduce potential
           plied that all services included in              ber of post offices, frequency of de-     net costs of obligations to provide
           the extent of obligations of Univer-             livery and removal of services with       Universal service in Croatia, Italy and
           sal service (USO) are exempt from                delivery date D+1 in Italy).              Netherlands.
           VAT with the exception of Norway                      In Great Britain competitors              Regardless of factors deter-
           and Sweden.                                      have argued that the extent of obli-      mining the extent of the Universal
                Objectives of the quality of ser-           gations to provide Universal service      service, broader or more specific
           vice (for example share of recom-                should be at minimum level to cov-        definitions of obligations to provide
           mended consignments in time D+1                  er needs of users in order to reduce
                                                                                                      Universal service is determined with
           or D+3) are determined within the                potential of distortion of competi-

                                                                                                                                                T h eme o f t h e mont h
                                                                                                      the help of primary legislation in
           extent of obligations of Universal               tion environment created by excep-
                                                            tions from VAT.                           all analyzed countries so that regu-
           service (USO) by all domestic regu-
                                                                 As regards already made chang-       latory bodies have sufficient flex-
           latory bodies (NRA) which answered
           (23).                                            es of domestic obligations of the         ibility for incorporation of changes
                                                            Universal service (USO), recent his-      on the market of postal services in
               Changing extent of obligations               tory shows that in some states            detailed demands which are influ-
               to provide Universal service                 changes of obligations of the Uni-        enced by secondary legislation or
               during the last 10 years                     versal service (USO) were already         license terms.
                Bulgaria, Malta and Netherlands             made. These changes were focused               In this respect all essential
           stated that they plan to review the              particularly on removal of the ser-       changes in the sphere of Universal
           extent of obligations to provide                 vice of collective consignments and       service considered in acts on post-
           Universal service in the near future 2 .         the so-called direct mail, change of      al services or decision of ministry
           Proposals to change postal Act are               definition of coverage of the extent
                                                                                                      (Greece) or in modifications of both
           under preparation in Netherlands,                of obligations to provide Universal
                                                                                                      acts (Poland). In majority of Member
                                                            service and modification of weight
           which will distinctly limit particu-                                                       countries it is obvious that the min-
                                                            categories which are included in
           larly compulsory number of postal                                                          istry responsible for the sector of
                                                            obligations of Universal service
           facilities and collecting boxes.                                                           postal services transposes directive
                                                            (USO), what has lead to limitation of
                In Norway the Goverment initi-
                                                            the extent of items included in ob-       on postal services and determines
           ated the review of postal regulation
                                                            ligations of Universal service (USO),     rules for regulation of Universal
9 / 2014

           considering implementation of the
                                                            where heavier packages and con-           service while domestic regulatory
           Third Directive on Postal services.
                                                            signments were removed.                   body is authorized to specify further
                Nevertheless, in some countries
                                                                 On the basis of information          regulation of the Universal service
           pressure exists on changes of the
                                                            provided by domestic regulatory           if necessary (with the exception of
           extent of obligations of the Univer-
                                                            bodies (NRA) latest changes of the        domestic regulatory bodies (NRA)
           sal service (USO) from providers of
                                                            extent of obligations to provide Uni-
           Universal service and in one case                                                          of Austria and Serbia, which cannot
                                                            versal service and all plans of these
           (Great Britain) also from competi-                                                         change the extent of the Universal
                                                            changes are summarized in Table
           tors.                                                                                      service). In majority of cases propos-
                                                            no. 1.
                In Croatia, Italy, Malta, in Roma-                                                    als to change the acts come from
                                                                 On the basis of data received
           nia, Sweden, Netherlands and in one                                                        domestic regulatory bodies (NRA)
                                                            it is evident that liberalization has
           another Member State providers of                                                          on the basis of facts discovered in
                                                            started changes within the extent
           Universal service demand potential
                                                            of obligations of Universal service       the market while some regulatory
           changes of the extent of obliga-
                                                            (USO) in 10 from 13 countries (Aus-       bodies participate also in the pro-
           tions of the Universal service (USO).
                                                            tria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Repub-     cess of creation of national frame-
           Among changes proposed belong:
                                                            lic, Latvia, Lituania, Italy, Poland,     work for postal service.
           2 Malta intends to review current extent of
           obligation to provide Universal service within   Portugal and Romania). In some
           the framework of Postal Directive of the EU.     cases factors existed which lead to

           Monthly monitoring report                                          - 10 -                                     September 2014
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