General Principles
The authorisation system enshrines the principles of technological neutrality, convergence, multiplicity of services and interoperability of networks and information systems in a competitive environment.
The establishment and/or operation of networks and the provision of electronic communications services must be carried out under conditions of fair competition, in accordance with the legislation in force and accepted international practice in the field of electronic communications.
The conditions of competition referred to in paragraph 2 above concern all measures intended to prevent operators from adopting or maintaining anti-competitive practices such as:
– Anti-competitive cross-subsidies;
Use of information obtained from competitors for unfair competition purposes;
– Refusal to make available to other authorised operators, in a timely manner, technical information on essential facilities and relevant commercial information necessary for the provision of services.
Operators are required to provide services under transparent and non-discriminatory conditions of transparency and under the same conditions as those granted to their subsidiaries or associates.
Operators shall guarantee the principle of equality and non-discrimination in the pricing of services offered to users nationwide.
The non-discrimination stated above shall not exclude reductions in tariffs linked to specific subscription conditions or to high volumes of traffic, provided that these conditions are published with the tariffs and that the reductions are applicable without discrimination to any customer meeting these conditions.
Tariffs applied by operators of networks open to the public, value-added service providers and traffic resellers must be geared to real costs.
The tariffs for the electronic communications services offered are set by the operators in compliance with the principle of equal treatment of users and in such a way as to avoid discrimination based on geographical location.
Operators are required to inform the public of their general terms and conditions of service and to publish their service tariffs.
Before marketing the service, operators are required to submit a notice publishing tariffs in accordance with the conditions laid down in the specifications.
Where operators offer wholesale electronic communications services to providers of electronic communications services or value-added services with a view to resale to their own customers, resale must be made under objective and non-discriminatory technical and pricing conditions.
Operators must keep analytical accounts that show the costs, revenues and results of each network operated and each service offered.
The accounts and summary statements, drawn up no later than six (06) months after the end of the financial year, may be audited, at the operators’ expense, by an approved body designated by the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency, hereinafter referred to as “the Agency”.
The purpose of the audit is to ensure that the summary statements give a true and fair view of the costs, income and results of each network operated or service offered.