Wholesale Broadband Access - ComReg Decision

damien

This was published here by ComReg yesterday. It's 30 pages long and the decision by ComReg is below. The whole document is worth reading though for the way ComReg went about making the decision and the comments and objections from eircom on this.

From a first reading it looks like ComReg politely thanked eircom for their input and still went ahead and imposed restrictions which will aid in a more level playing field.

eircom is designated as having SMP in market for wholesale broadband access in Ireland.

4 SMP OBLIGATIONS

4.1 ComReg has decided to impose the ex ante SMP obligations set out in Regulations 10 – 14 inclusive of the Access Regulations. These SMP obligations are described further in the sections below.

5 ACCESS OBLIGATIONS

5.1 eircom shall have an obligation to meet reasonable requests for access to, and use of, wholesale bitstream access products, features or additional associated facilities by undertakings17requesting access or use of such wholesale bitstream access products, features or additional associated facilities, as provided for by Regulation 13 of the Access Regulations. Without limiting the generality of Regulation 13 of the Access Regulations and this section, eircom shall:-
I. Negotiate in good faith with undertakings, requesting access.
II. Give third parties access to specified network elements, facilities or both such elements and facilities.
III. Not withdraw access to certain facilities already granted without the prior approval of ComReg.
IV. Grant open access to technical interfaces, protocols or other key technologies that are indispensable for the interoperability of services or virtual network services.
V. Provide access to operational support systems or similar software systems necessary to ensure fair competition in the provision of services.


5.2 It shall be a condition of the obligations contained in section 5.1 that eircom concludes legally binding Service Level Agreements (‘SLAs’) with Other Authorised Operators (‘OAOs’) in respect of relevant products and appropriate process points.

OBLIGATION OF NON-DISCRIMINATION

6.1 eircom shall have an obligation of non-discrimination as provided for by Regulation 11 of the Access Regulations. Without limiting the generality of Regulation 11 and this section, eircom shall:-
I. Provide sufficient wholesale products to support the full range of eircom retail offerings.
II. Apply equivalent conditions in equivalent circumstances to other undertakings providing equivalent services and provide services and information to undertakings under the same conditions and of the same quality as eircom provides for its own services or those of its subsidiaries or partners.
III. Ensure that information and services are provided to OAOs according to timescales, on a basis, and of a quality, which are equivalent to those provided to eircom’s retail arm and eircom’s associates or subsidiaries.
IV. Conclude legally binding SLAs with OAOs in respect of relevant products and appropriate process points.

7 OBLIGATION OF TRANSPARENCY

7.1 eircom shall have an obligation of transparency as provided for by Regulation 10 of the Access Regulations. Without limiting the generality of Regulation 10 of the Access Regulations and this section, eircom shall publish and keep updated a bitstream access reference offer (‘BARO’) that is sufficiently unbundled to ensure that undertakings are not required to pay for facilities which are not necessary for the service requested. eircom shall ensure that the BARO includes a description of the relevant offerings broken down into components according to market needs and a description of the associated terms and conditions, including prices.

7.2 eircom shall publish, specified information, such as accounting information, technical specifications, network characteristics, terms and conditions for supply and use and prices.

7.3 eircom shall publish all SLAs concluded (and as from time to time amended) in accordance with section 5.1 and section 6.1 (iv) of this Decision.

8 ACCOUNTING SEPARATION
8.1 eircom shall have an obligation to keep separated accounts as provided for by Regulation 12 of the Access Regulations. All of the obligations in relation to accounting separation applying to eircom in force immediately prior to the effective date of this Decision, shall be maintained in their entirety and eircom shall comply with those obligations, pending a further decision to be made by ComReg (following further consultation) in relation to the details of and implementation of accounting separation obligations and cost accounting obligations.

Without limiting the generality of the obligation to comply with all accounting separation obligations18 in force immediately prior to the effective date of this Decision, eircom shall continue to comply with inter alia, the obligations described in the following Decision Notices previously issued by ComReg:-

• D5/99 – Accounting Separation and Publication of Financial Information for Telecommunication Operators.
• D8/99 – Costing Methodology for use in Accounting Separation.
• D10/99 – Accounting Separation and Publication of Financial Information for Telecommunications Operators.
• D9/00 – Accounting Separation and Publication of Financial Information for Telecommunications Operators.
• D10/00 – Accounting Separation and Publication of Financial Information for Telecommunications Operators, Supplemental Information referring to
• D2/01- Accounting Separation for Internet Service provision and Report on Investigation into Indigo and eircom.net.
• D7/01- eircom’s Reference Interconnection Offer & Accounting Separation and Publication of Financial Information for Telecommunications
• D12/01- Revision of Timetable for Publication of Separated Accounts and Financial Information by eircom.

9.1 eircom shall, pursuant to Regulation 14 of the Access Regulations, have obligations relating to wholesale price control as determined from time to time by ComReg (following consultation) for the following purposes:
I. Establishing the margin between wholesale and retail prices proposed to be
II. Preventing the potential application by eircom of a price or margin squeeze.
III. Preventing eircom from sustaining prices at an excessively high level.

9.2 Pending a further decision by ComReg (to be made following further consultation) in relation to the details of and implementation of wholesale price controls referred to in section 9.1 and without limiting the generality of Regulation 14 of the Access Regulations and section 9.1, eircom shall:-

I. Pursuant to its obligations of non-discrimination referred to in section 6 and its obligations of transparency referred to in section 7, notify ComReg in writing of any proposed amendments to retail terms and conditions, including price, in respect of its existing and future Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (‘ADSL’) products.

In this regard, eircom shall also notify ComReg in writing, for its prior approval, of any proposed amendments to wholesale terms and conditions, including price, in respect of its existing and future bitstream products. ComReg shall as soon as is reasonably practicable, undertake and complete its assessment of eircom’s proposed wholesale amendments and either approve such amendments or, pursuant to its powers under Regulations 10, 14 and 17 of the Access Regulations, direct that adjustments be made to such amendments, or the actual wholesale terms and conditions, including price, if no amendments have been proposed or notified to ComReg. The procedure described in this section shall, for the purpose of this Decision, be referred to as ‘the Assessment Procedure’.

II. Apply the retail minus controls to each of the connection and rental charges for each of the four eircom wholesale bitstream products, as set out in the table below (‘the Table’).19

The margin between the retail prices and the wholesale prices shall be at least as great as the margin implied by the retail minus controls in the Table. ComReg may, for the purpose of ensuring the fulfilment of its functions and objectives in Regulation 6 of the Access Regulations and section 10 and section 12 of the Communications Regulation Act, 2002 and for the purpose of ensuring compliance with Regulation 14 of the Access Regulations, deviate from the formulae set out in the Table.

More on next post:

damien

..contd.

Retail Discount Schemes

III. Notify ComReg in writing of any proposed amendments to the eircom Bulk Connection Discount Scheme or, of the proposed introduction of any new retail discount scheme. eircom may be required to make corresponding amendments to wholesale bitstream product prices, or other terms and conditions, if it makes any amendment to the eircom Bulk Connection Discount Scheme or, proposes to introduce any new discount scheme. eircom shall notify ComReg in writing, for its prior approval, of any proposed corresponding amendments to wholesale bitstream product prices.

The Assessment Procedure shall apply in respect of eircom’s proposed wholesale amendments. In making its assessment, of what (if any) amendments are required to wholesale bitstream product prices and if demonstrated to ComReg’s satisfaction, ComReg will take into account the extent of any objective justification for a discount scheme for example, the scheme characteristics implying cost savings relative to the standard product. Where an objective justification of this nature has not been demonstrated to ComReg’s satisfaction, ComReg may require changes in wholesale prices that reflect the retail minus formulae set out in the Table and apply the approach applied to new promotion schemes as set out below.

IV. Retail Promotions

Notify ComReg in writing of any proposed amendments to a retail promotion (including a new retail promotion) that amends the self-install connection charges or monthly rental charges or, makes any other amendments to the characteristics of the relevant product. eircom shall also notify ComReg in writing, for its prior approval, of any corresponding proposed wholesale price amendments. The Assessment Procedure shall apply in respect of eircom’s proposed wholesale amendments. In addition, the following shall apply:-

• Any promotion that only makes amendments to self-install connection charges or monthly rental charges will have the retail minus controls set out in the Table applied to it. In order to allow further pricing flexibility in respect of eircom promotions, ComReg will however allow eircom to distribute required monetary reductions in wholesale prices across the wholesale connection and rental charges as eircom sees fit.20 ComReg may allow eircom to make equivalent reductions to other relevant wholesale charges, where it can be shown that it would not lead to a disadvantage to purchasers of bitstream products.

• Where promotions change product characteristics, other than the connection or rental charges,21 ComReg will amend the retail minus controls as set out in the Table in a manner that reflects the change in cost implied by the amendment in product characteristics.22

V. Not put in to effect, publish or cause to be published any associated amendments to retail prices and / or terms and conditions prior to publishing any amendments to wholesale prices. eircom shall not make such associated amendments to retail prices effective, prior to the amendments to the wholesale prices becoming effective.

VI. Pursuant to its non-discrimination obligations referred to in section 6 and its transparency obligations referred to in section 7, publish the amendments to its wholesale prices (referred to in section 9) in the BARO no less than 15 working days prior to the date they are intended to become effective and specify the date on which they are intended to become effective.

VII. With respect to the charges and products detailed in the Product Schedule below, notify ComReg in writing, for its approval, of any proposed amendments thereto. The Assessment Procedure shall apply with respect to such a notification. eircom shall not publish or cause to be published any increase in the prices (or any proposed amendments to the other terms and conditions) to the products detailed in the Product Schedule without first notifying ComReg thereof and at the same time, submitting to ComReg an appropriate cost based justification with respect to any such proposed

• The eircom Service Establishment Charge.

The eircom Cessation Charge.
• The eircom Bitstream Connection Service VT Link Charge.
• The eircom ATM Products.23
• eircom New Products / Charges.

VIII. Ensure that the eircom Bitstream Connection Service Access and Transport Link Charge (‘ALT’) is consistent with the equivalent wholesale leased line

10.1 eircom shall have obligations in relation to cost accounting as provided for by Regulation 14 of the Access Regulations. All of the obligations in relation to cost accounting applying to eircom which were in force immediately prior to the effective date of this Decision shall be maintained in their entirety and eircom shall comply with those obligations pending a further decision to be made by ComReg (following further consultation) in relation to the details of and implementation of accounting separation obligations and cost accounting obligations.