(Kommenterat utdrag)
[Hela rapporten finns tillgänglig i PDF: engvehel.pdf.]
The Green Paper ("departementspromemoria" in Swedish), which contains proposals for revised regulations as of 1 July, 1997, has been put together by non-political officials at the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The document thus does not represent formal Government policy.
The Green Paper has been sent out for public consultation, with a request for points of view before 1 October, 1996 (readers of this version are, of course, also welcome to submit their reactions to the Ministry). The Ministry will, during the autumn, prepare a Government Bill, which is to be presented in early 1997.
The revised Telecommunications Act - policy objectives and scope of regulations
The Green Paper proposes that a revised Telecommunications Act enter into force on 1 July 1997.
The Paper proposes that telecommunications regulations should continue to cover only the transmission of telecommunications messages. Developments should be carefully monitored though in order to adapt the legislation when necessary.
The primary telecommunications policy objective, that individuals, organizations and authorities in different parts of the country should have access to efficient telecommunications, should remain unchanged. The subsidiary policy objectives should however be clarified. Three specific objectives are set out:
- Everyone should be able to use, from his or her permanent residence or regular business location, telephony service within a public network at an affordable price.
Detta är redan en grundförutsättning i den gamla telelagen från 1993, men var i verkligheten finner vi någon relevans i ordet "affordable"? Samma ord finns i den amerikanska telelagen Communications Act of 1996 (och tidigare lagar), men där har ordet förankring i verkligheten. 13-20 dollar i månaden för Unlimited Service (inklusive obegränsat antal avgiftsfria lokalsamtal) är verkligen "affordable". Flera tusen kronor i kvartalet, som man tvingas betala för samma service hos Telia, är inte "affordable".
- Everybody should have access to telecommunications services on equivalent terms.
- Telecommunications should be sustainable and accessible during crises and wartime.
The reformulated objectives imply, among other things, that stronger emphasis be put on the telephony service being provided at an affordable price and that all persons with special needs, chiefly persons with physical disabilities, should have access to telecommunications services comparable to those available to the majority of the population.
As regards end-user tariffs for telephony service, the Green Paper proposes that the current price-cap scheme be replaced by general price regulation. The NPTA has been commissioned to investigate and submit proposals no later than 1 October on price regulation models that safeguard the interests of users and ensure competitive neutrality between operators.
Of importance for future price regulation is the emphasis on affordability; at the same time a certain degree of flexibility is allowed e.g. for geographical price variations. The latter presupposes however that prices are not raised in areas which are not exposed to competition as direct compensation for price reductions in areas where competition exists. Furthermore, price variations between the regions should not be unreasonable. The Paper proposes in this context to give the NPTA a more explicit mandate to monitor tariff trends closely.
Det vore lämpligt att definiera "affordable". Det finns ingen sådan definition i rapporten.
The total market for telephony services amounted to almost SEK 18 billion in 1994. Receipts were as follows per category: subscription charges SEK 7.1 billion, charges for local and regional calls SEK 3.0 billion, charges for long-distance domestic calls SEK 4.4 billion and charges for international calls SEK 3.2 billion.
Lokalsamtalen uppgår alltså till cirka 1.5 miljarder kronor, eller 20% av abonnemangsavgifterna. Det är med dessa siffror lätt att föreställa sig införandet av flat rate för de som så önskar, exempelvis till en kostnad av 200 kronor per månad. Om man tar hänsyn till att införandet av ett sådant system skulle medföra behov av utbyggnad av nätet, får man givetvis justera priserna efter utbyggnadstakten. De ökade trafikkostnaderna, däremot, är försumbara.
Swedish National Audit Office report "Two years of the Telecommunications Act"
The Swedish National Audit Office (referred to below as "the Office") was instructed in September 1994 by the Government to investigate the effects of the Telecommunications Act on the telecommunications market, as well as to analyze the work of the National Post and Telecom Agency (henceforth abbreviated as "the NPTA"). The Office's report "Two years of the Telecommunications Act" was published in June 1995. The report was sent out for public consultation.
The Office notes that competition has developed slowly within national telephony. One of the most important reasons for this, according to the Office, is the imbalance between end-user tariffs and interconnection fees. As a reason for the interconnection fees being very high, the Office quotes the fact that the competing operators are not connected at the local level of Telia's network. Their calls therefore have to travel unnecessarily long distances, for which the operators have to pay.
Besides the problems of interconnection, the Office mentions other obstacles to competition:
- The delays by Telia in connecting competitors to Telia's network.
In its analysis of the work of the NPTA, the Office finds that the NPTA should concentrate more on general issues, like overall faults in the system and monopoly tendencies, rather than going into too much detail, for instance, with regard to Telia's cost structure. The Office would furthermore like to see overall responsibility for consumer affairs in the telecommunications sector being placed more explicitly with a single authority.
Among the reactions submitted during the public consultation process, the following were the most prominent:
- Several organizations point out the necessity of making structural changes within Telia, above all, suggesting the separation of the network division from the rest of the group. The purpose would be to promote competition in the telecommunications sector.
Detta förslag är bra på papperet, men i realiteten skulle vi få ännu en trög och ineffektiv myndighetsapparat, som enbart skulle fördyra verksamheten. Lag om "rimliga och icke-diskriminerande samtrafikavgifter" är bättre.
- There is a great support for the NPTA acquiring extended powers when dealing with interconnection conflicts. Telia, however, thinks that the current system has worked well.
Nuvarande samtrafikavgifter är väldigt lukrativa för Telia, speciellt med avseende på lokalsamtal, så man föreställer sig att de verkligen är nöjda.