Bucharest City Hall and NetCity contest ANCOM decision regarding access to optic fiber backbone, say internet service providers

Netcity Telecom and the Bucharest City Hall have attacked in court the decision of the Romanian telecom regulating authority ANCOM, which sets the optimum conditions and maximum prices for access to the backbone for all potential clients. Some of these conditions should have been implemented within 4 months.

The ANCOM decision issued at the end of May was contested at the Bucharest Court of Appeal, with the request to suspend and annul it.

In reply, The National Association of Internet Service Providers (ANISP) required Romanian authorities, especially the Competition Council, to start a series of investigations and proceed to applying fines to Netcity Telecom for failing to comply with the ANCOM decision.

The telecom authority ANCOM had set a 6 month term for setting up and communicating a model of cost calculation which should take into account the costs for supplying internet access. Until this is drafted, the Authority has ruled that the tariffs practiced by NetCity Telecom should not exceed EUR 85 per kilometer per month, VAT not included, for renting tubes and connections, and EUR 22 per kilometer per month, VAT not included, for renting dark fiber.

The ANISP representatives have also met with officials of the European Commission, including vice-president Neelie Kroes, who was briefed about the Netcity situation.

Mihai Batraneanu, president of ANISP, said that the Bucharest mayor does not respect the ANCOM decision, and blocks the development of the telecom sector and the entry of new players on this market.

ANISP was constituted in 2001 at the initiative of 12 internet service suppliers among which EuroWeb, Orange, GTS Telecom, Vodafone, UPC and RDS and currently includes 38 members.