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Telecommunications (Regulation) Act (Cap. 399) Telecommunications General (Services) (Amendment Number 3) Regulations, 2003 (L.N. No. 200 Of 2003 )

TELECOMMUNICATIONS (REGULATION) ACT (CAP. 399)
Telecommunications General (Services) (Amendment Number 3) Regulations, 2003
IN exercise of the powers conferred upon him by article 38 of the Telecommunications (Regulation) Act, the Minister for Transport and Communications, after consultation with the Malta Communications Authority, has made the following regulations>
1. The title of these regulations is the Telecommunications General (Services) (Amendment Number 3) Regulations, 2003 and shall be read and construed as one with the Telecommunications General (Services) Regulations, 2000, hereinafter referred to as “the principal regulations”.
2. Sub-regulation 1 of regulation 2 of the principal regulations shall be amended as follows>
(a) sub-paragraph (c) thereof shall be substituted by the following>
“(c) Fixed wireless telecommunications systems and services<”<
(b) after sub-paragraph (c) thereof there shall be added the following new sub-paragraph>
“(d) Publicly available voice telephony services.”
3. In regulation 4 of the principal regulations the definition of
“operator” shall be substituted with the following>
“ “operator” means an operator who provides services and, or operates systems described in paragraphs (a), (b), (c) or (d) of sub-regulation (1) of regulation 2 of these regulations”<”
4. In sub-regulation (1) of regulation 5 of the principal regulations for the words “referred to in regulation 2” there shall be substituted the words “referred to in paragraphs (a), (b), (c) or (d) of sub-regulation (1) of regulation 2”.

Citation.

L.N. 151 of 2000

.

Amends regulation

2 of the principal regulations.

Amends regulation

4 of the principal regulations.

Amends regulation

5 of the principal regulations.

B 2320

Amends regulation

6 of the principal regulations.

Amends regulation

7 of the principal regulations.

Amends regulation

8 of the principal regulations.

5. In sub-regulation (2) of regulation 6 of the principal regulations the words “The determination of the Regulator shall take into account the operator’s ability to influence market conditions, its turnover relative to the size of the market, its control of the means of access to end use, its access to financial resources and its experience in providing products and services in the market.” shall be substituted by the following> “The Regulator may also determine that operators which are presumed to have a dominant market position under sub-regulation (1) of this regulation do not have a dominant market position. In either case the determination of the Regulator shall take into account the operator’s ability to influence market conditions, its turnover relative to the size of the market, its control of the means of access to end users, its access to financial resources and its experience in providing products and services in the market.”
6. In regulation 7 of the principal regulations>
(a) In sub-regulation (1) thereof the words “established by the Regulator” shall be substituted by the words “established from time to time by the Regulator”<
(b) In sub-regulation (2) thereof>
(i) The words “with Annex III of the European Commission’s Revised Voice Telephony Directive>” shall be substituted with the words “with Annex III of the European Commission’s Revised Voice Telephony Directive as amended by the decision of the Commission of the 22nd December 2000>”<
(ii) The words “for less than eighteen months may also be exempted by the Regulator from such quality of service targets as the Regulator may consider inappropriate in such circumstances.” shall be substituted by the words “for more than eighteen months may also be required by the Regulator to adhere to such quality of service targets as the Regulator may consider appropriate in such circumstances.”<
(c) Sub-regulations (5) and (6) thereof shall be deleted.
7. In regulation 8 of the principal regulations the words “ETSI ETR 138 standard” wherever they occur shall be substituted with the words “ETSI ETR 201-769 standard.”
8. In sub-regulation (2) of regulation 9 of the principal regulations, the words “distorting competition in the running of its telecommunications system. Such act or omission may take the form of>” shall be substituted by the words “distorting competition. Such act or omission may also include>”.
9. Regulation 13 of the principal regulations shall be amended as follows>
(a) In sub-regulation (1) thereof the words “based on Long Run Incremental Costs (LRIC) for network elements used to provide the interconnections, excluding overheads such as marketing, personnel or headquarters maintenance.” shall be substituted by the words “based on cost accounting methods to be defined by the Regulator.”< and
(b) In sub-regulation (2) thereof the words “Long Run Incremental Costs” shall be substituted by the words “interconnection costs under sub-regulation (1) of this regulation”.
10. In sub-regulation (4) of regulation 17 of the principal regulations, the word “direction” shall be substituted with the word “decision”.
11. Regulation 18 of the principal regulations shall be amended as follows>
(a) In sub-regulation (2) thereof the word “directions” shall be substituted by the word “decisions”<
(b) In sub-regulation (3) the words “may direct” shall be substituted by the words “may order”.
12. Regulation 20 of the principal regulations shall be amended as follows>
(a) In sub-regulation (1) thereof the words “six months”
shall be substituted by the words “two months”<
(b) Sub-regulation (2) thereof shall be substituted by the following>
“(2) Number reservations shall be allowed for certain categories of numbers as may be determined by the Regulator for a period of three months, which may be extended by the Regulator up to a period of not more than two years.”
B 2321

Amends regulation

9 of the principal regulations.

Amends regulation

13 of the principal regulations.

Amends regulation

17 of the principal regulations.

Amends regulation

18 of the principal regulations.

Amends regulation

20 of the principal regulations.

B 2322

Amends regulation

23 of the principal regulations.

Amends regulation

24 of the principal regulations.

Amends regulation

28 of the principal regulations.

(c) In sub-regulation (5) thereof the words “six months”
shall be substituted by the words “two months”.
13. Sub-regulation (2) of regulation 23 of the principal regulations shall be substituted with the following sub-regulation>
“(2) The type of numbers to be made portable shall be determined by the Regulator.”
14. Regulation 24 of the principal regulations shall be amended as follows>
(a) Sub-regulation (1) thereof shall be substituted by the following>
“(1) An operator of a public fixed telecommunications system having a dominant market position providing telephony services shall allow its subscribers to access switched services of any interconnected operator providing public telephony services>-
(a) on a call-by-call basis by dialling a carrier selection code<
(b) by means of pre-selection, with a facility to override any pre-selected choice on a call-by-call basis by dialling a carrier selection code.
Provided that the Regulator may also impose this obligation on any operator providing telephony services.”<
(b) Sub-regulation (4) thereof shall be amended as follows> (i) The words “by one of the following methods” shall
be substituted by the words “by one or a combination of the
following methods”, and
(ii) In sub-paragraph (i) thereof the word “or” shall be substituted by the words “and, or”.
15. In the proviso to sub-regulation (1) of regulation 28 the words “until the 1st January, 2002 and the provisions of sub-paragraph (ii) of this paragraph shall apply to the said emergency numbers.” shall be substituted with the words “in accordance with sub-regulation (3) of this regulation.”
16. In sub-regulation (8) of regulation 29 of the principal regulations the words “in an agreed format on terms which are fair, cost-oriented and non-discriminatory.” shall be substituted with the words “in an agreed format as approved by the Regulator on terms which the Regulator considers as being fair, cost-oriented and non- discriminatory.”
17. Regulation 31 of the principal regulations shall be amended as follows>
(a) In sub-regulation (2) thereof the words “shall be given the opportunity to comment upon such support” shall be substituted by the words “shall be given the opportunity to comment upon the proposed changes in the tariffs.”<
(b) In sub-regulation (3) thereof the words “of his receiving the information referred to in paragraph (2) of this regulation.” shall be substituted with the words “of his receiving all relevant information as the Regulator may request including that referred to in sub-regulation (2) of this regulation>
Provided that the Regulator may extend the period of six weeks referred to in this sub-regulation by a further period not exceeding four weeks, in which case the Regulator shall inform the operator concerned of such an extension.”
18. In sub-regulation (1) of regulation 36 of the principal regulations the words “public fixed telecommunications network” shall be substituted with the words “public telecommunications system”.
19. In sub-regulation (5) of regulation 38 of the principal regulations the words “fax and a modem to operate as well as the provisions of operator assistance, emergency and directory enquiry services (including subscriber directories) and of public payphones>” shall be substituted with the words “fax and a modem to operate as well as the provision of operator assistance, emergency and directory information services (including subscriber directories) and of public payphones>”
20. Regulation 40 of the principal regulations shall be amended as follows>
(a) the words “customer” or “customers” wherever they occur shall be substituted respectively by the words “subscriber” or “subscribers”.
B 2323

Amends regulation

29 of the principal regulations.

Amends regulation

31 of the principal regulations.

Amends regulation

36 of the principal regulations.

Amends regulation

38 of the principal regulations.

Amends regulation

40 of the principal regulations.

B 2324

Amends regulation

41 of the principal regulations.

Amends regulation

45 of the principal regulations.

Substitution of regulation 46 of the principal regulations.

(b) sub-regulation (1) thereof shall be amended as follows > (i) sub-paragraph (ii) thereof shall be substituted by
the following>
“(ii) A supplementary charge added to the interconnection charge.” <
(ii) sub-paragraph (iii) thereof shall be deleted.
21. In sub-regulation (5) of regulation 41 of the principal regulations the words “six months” shall be substituted with the words “one month”.
22. In regulation 45 of the principal regulations the words “the following information on an annual basis>” shall be substituted with the words “the following information on a quarterly basis, provided that the Regulator may require the provision of any such information at lesser intervals if such information is required by the Regulator in the better exercise of his functions>”.
23. Regulation 46 of the principal regulations shall be substituted by the following>

“Dispute about interconnection.

46. (1) Any person having a complaint against an operator over interconnection, may refer the complaint to the Regulator who shall take steps to resolve the dispute within two months of such request.
(2) The dispute referred to in sub-regulation (1) of this regulation will be resolved in such a manner as to represent a fair balance between the legitimate interests of both parties and it shall be made public and given to the parties concerned with a statement of the reasons upon which it is based. In arriving at this decision the Regulator shall consider>
(i) the user interest<
(ii) the regulatory obligations or constraints incumbent on any of the parties<
(iii) the desirability of stimulating innovative market offerings and of providing users with a wide range of telecommunications services at national and at international level<
(iv) the availability of technically and commercially viable alternatives to the interconnection requested<
(v) the desirability of ensuring equal access arrangements<
(vi) the need to maintain the integrity of the public telecommunications system and the interoperability of services<
(vii) the nature of the request for interconnection and its relation to the resources available to meet the request<
(viii) the relative market positions of the parties< (ix) the public interest considerations, such as the
protection of the environment, involved<
(x) the promotion of competition<
(xi) the need to maintain a universal service.”
24. Regulations 47 and 48 of the principal regulations shall be renumbered as regulations 48 and 49 thereof respectively.
25. After regulation 46 there shall be added the following new regulation in the principal regulations>
B 2325

Renumbering of regulations 47 to 48 of the principal regulations.

Addition of new regulation 47 in the principal regulations.

“Dispute resolution other than intercon- nection disputes.

47. (1) Any person including users, service providers, subscribers and other organisations representing users having an unresolved dispute with an operator in relation to any matter dealt with under these regulations, may bring such a dispute before the Regulator for resolution.
(2) In deciding any disputes referred to in paragraph (1) the Regulator shall use easily accessible and where possible inexpensive procedures to resolve such disputes in a fair, transparent and timely manner. Such procedures shall in particular apply in cases where users are in dispute over their bills for a telecommunications service or over the terms and conditions under which a telecommunications service is provided.”
B 2326

Substitution of regulation 48 as renumbered of the principal regulations.

Amendment of First Schedule to the principal

regulations.

26. Regulation 48 as renumbered of the principal regulations shall be substituted by the following>
“48. An operator or any other interested party shall have a right to appeal to the Telecommunications Appeals Board against any decision of the Regulator taken in accordance with these regulations including any decision relating to any dispute referred to the Regulator under regulations 46 or 47 of these Regulations.”
27. After Part 3 of the First Schedule to the principal regulations there shall be added the following new part>
“PART 4
Licence for Publicly available voice telephony services
Granted by the Malta Communications Authority in exercise of the powers conferred by the Telecommunications (Regulation) Act, Cap.399.
Date of Issue> Validity Period>
Name of Company Registered Address Registration Number
1.0 Scope of Licence
1.1 is licensed to provide publicly available voice telephony services (“Services”) throughout the territory of Malta and between Malta and other countries.
1.2 The licensed services include allowing users to make and receive local and international calls, facsimile and data communications.
1.3 This licence shall not be construed as granting an exclusive right to the Licensee to provide the Services.
1.4 The Telecommunications (Regulation) Act, all national Laws and Regulations, and decisions of the Authority shall apply to the Licensee for all purposes and form an integral part of this licence except in those cases where the Licensee is specifically exempted.
2.0 Service Implementation
The Licensee shall introduce services to users in Malta, as committed under its licence application in terms of geographic scope,
availability to users and quality of service. The licensee shall have the right to interconnect to any telecommunications system to which the licensed service relates and shall have the same rights and service obligations as an operator of public fixed telecommunications systems and services as defined in the Telecommunications Services (General) Regulations, 2000.
3.0 Fees
The Licensee shall pay such fees to the Authority in the amounts and at the times stated by the Authority, consistent with any Law or Regulations that provide for such fees.
4.0 Lawful Interception Capability
The Licensee shall furnish to the competent authorities the data and equipment needed to accomplish their lawful interception requirements as specified by Maltese law.
5.0 Transfer of Licence
The Licensee shall not transfer all or part of this licence without the prior written consent of the Authority and subject to reasonable conditions. In giving its consent the Authority will have regard to such matters that it thinks fit, including the effect which the transfer could possibly have on the market structure and the financial and technical competence of the Transferee.
6.0 Termination
This licence shall be subject to termination in whole or in part because of its expiration, renunciation by the Licensee, revocation in accordance with the Telecommunications (Regulation) Act, or insolvency, liquidation or bankruptcy of the Licensee.
7.0 Reporting
The Licensee shall furnish to the Authority, in such a manner and at such times as the Authority may reasonably request, such network, operations, and financial information as it may reasonably require for the purpose of verifying that the Licensee is complying with the conditions of the Licence and for statistical purposes.
8.0 Resolution of Disputes
The licensee shall follow the procedures set up by law or the Authority in order to resolve disputes in a fair, transparent and timely manner and shall take all steps as required by the Authority.
28. The Second Schedule to the principal regulations shall be amended as follows>
B 2327

Amendment of Second Schedule to the principal regulations.

B 2328
(a) the words “(Regulation 41)” shall be substituted by the words “(Regulation 40)”<
(b) In Part 2 after paragraph (iii) thereof there shall be added the following new paragraph>
“(iv) For publicly available voice telephony services
... Lm10,000 plus one per cent of total gross revenues”.

Ippubblikat mid-Dipartiment ta’ l-Informazzjoni (doi.gov.mt) — Valletta — Published by the Department of Information (doi.gov.mt) — Valletta

Mitbug[ fl-Istamperija tal-Gvern — Printed at the Government Printing Press

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