ANCOM handed out fines of RON 2.3 million in 2018 to companies in electronic communications and postal services

Aurel Dragan 04/02/2019 | 15:31

ANCOM, the Control Authority for the communication industry, performed approximately 4,000 inspections on the electronic communications and postal services market in 2018, resulting in 511 warnings and 110 fines, totaling RON 2.43 million.

“In 2018 we completed one of the largest monitoring campaigns ever carried out by ANCOM. This is the national voice coverage campaign, where measurements were made in 12,786 localities where more than 19.8 million of the 20.1 million Romanian citizens live. We have verified to what extent mobile operators complied with the obligation to cover voice services of the areas inhabited by at least 98 percent of the Romanian population. 2018 was a busy year for us in terms of monitoring the electronic communications and postal services market, which resulted in 3,868 inspections and the application of 110 fines totaling RON 2,428,000,” said Sorin Grindeanu, president of ANCOM.

As a result of these actions, ANCOM sent 203 notifications and applied 511 warnings and 110 contravention fines totaling 2,428,000 lei. The amount is turned into revenue for the state budget.

The electronic communications market

On the electronic communications market, in 2018 ANCOM carried out 2,728 control actions, out of which the offenders received 203 notifications, 391 warnings and 89 fines, in the amount of RON 2,304,500.

The Authority fined TELEKOM ROMANIA MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS S.A. with the highest amount of 2018 on the electronic communications market in the total amount of RON 1.1 million, of which RON 600,000 for the unavailability of the network as a result of the worst security incident registered on the electronic communications market in Romania and RON 500,000 for non-compliance with the obligation to keep the network logs at the level of granularity provided in the License.

19 contravention fines amounting to RON 155,000 were applied by ANCOM to the providers of telephone services, mainly for the violation of the number portability obligations and the roaming services.

A total of 26 fines for a total amount of RON 240,000 were applied to the providers of television and radio broadcasting services (RTV). The main sanctions were applied for non-observance of technical data, parameters or conditions contained in technical permits (RTVs). Out of them, 7 contravention fines amounting to RON 165,000 were applied for non-observance of the coverage obligations specified in the licenses for the use of radio frequencies in digital terrestrial system.

CATV network providers were sanctioned with 33 contravention fines totaling RON 237,500 for non-compliance with the conditions set out in the General Authorization.

Also, 9 fines totaling RON 72,000 were applied to the radiocommunication operators. The most frequent irregularities in these controls were non-compliance with the provisions of the authorization documents (frequency licenses and frequency assignment authorizations), as well as those related to the operation of radiocommunication stations.

In 2018, ANCOM completed an extensive campaign to measure the national voice coverage of the areas inhabited by at least 98 percent of the population of Romania by Orange, Vodafone and Telekom operators, who had this obligation laid down in the spectrum use licenses Radio Telecom Romania Mobile Telecommunications Company was sanctioned with a fine in the amount of RON 500,000, and Vodafone Romania and Orange Romania with a warning.

In parallel with this campaign, a campaign was conducted to determine the coverage of mobile electronic communications services in border areas and one to check it on national and county roads across the country.

The radio equipment market

On the radio equipment market, 745 inspections were carried out, resulting in 65 warnings and 14 contravention fines totaling RON 63,500. The highest fine was RON 25,000 and was applied to Glass Protection SRL in a case of advertising and making available on the market jamming equipment that produces harmful interference in the spectrum because they are banned on the territory of Romania.

The postal services market

ANCOM carried out 395 control actions in 2018, 55 warnings and 7 contravention fines were applied, amounting to RON 60,000, and the failure to observe the obligations imposed by the general authorization regime was frequently found.

The highest fine imposed on the postal services market, in the amount of RON 25,000, was applied to the Romanian Post Office Company, for non-compliance with the minimum quality conditions for internal mailings.

For the other postal service providers, the main irregularities consisted in the non-availability of postal items, the non-writing of postal items with the date of their submission to the postal network and the modification of the charges received between acceptance and delivery, failure to observe the legal provisions of commercial offers published on their own sites and failure to observe the postage period after the endorsement of recipients.

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Aurel Dragan | 27/03/2024 | 17:32
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