The Federal Network Agency intends to oblige Deutsche Telekom AG (DT AG) to allow call-by-call and preselection on its lines also in the future. This emerges from a draft regulatory order published on 18.03.2009, which is based on the analysis of the market for telephone connections to be carried out every two years and is made available by the Federal Network Agency to the market for comment.
The draft clarifies that the obligation to call-by-call and preselection also applies to IP-based connections. "Call-by-call and preselection still accounted for 33 percent of competitor offers in 2008. Although their importance is declining in view of flat rate and bundled offers, these access variants still represent an important option for certain customer groups.
DT AG's connection charges are also still to be subject to retrospective regulation. As a new measure, the draft provides for the obligation of DT AG to offer telephone connections to competitors for resale. So far, DT AG has offered this so-called connection resale without an explicit obligation by the Federal Network Agency. The now envisaged obligation to offer a connection resale is intended to create the conditions for the definition and standardisation of business processes. Alternative network operators can thus obtain connections from DT AG for their own customers on a reliable legal basis, in order to also be able to operate in regions where their own infrastructure expansion has not yet been completed.
However, due to the consolidation of competitive structures on the telecommunications market, the draft order also provides for a relaxation of regulation in certain areas. In future, DT AG will no longer be obliged to notify the Federal Network Agency of planned tariff measures two months before they come into force or to notify it of contracts for individually agreed services immediately after the contract is concluded.
The draft decision can be read on the website of the Federal Network Agency at www.bundesnetzagentur.de and is available for download. All interested market participants have the opportunity to comment by 15 April 2009.
Source: Press release of the Federal Network Agency of 18.03.2009
Goldberg Attorneys at Law
Attorney at Law Michael Ullrich, LL.M. (Information Law)
Specialist lawyer for information technology law (IT law)
E-mail: info@goldberg.de
