The National Regulatory Authority for Communication (ANRC) had decided to slash the interconnection tariffs - the costs telecom operators pay to one another when a caller telephones across networks - by an average of 14.8 per cent per year until 2009.
Both Orange and Vodafone have publicly argued against this decision. Vodafone Romania’s CEO Liliana Solomon, last July told The Diplomat, reducing tariffs would endanger the company’s long term investment plans.
Since then, ANRC has announced it will launch a public consultation to determine whether or not to delay imposing this reduction in tariffs.
This has lead rivals Romtelecom, Telemobil (Zapp) and Cosmote to ask the Government to bring to task the regulatory authority, as they consider reasons for such a delay unfounded and bad for consumers. Heads of the three companies said ANRC’s decision means the regulatory body breaches its role as an impartial observer and a promoter of competition, because it supports the duopoly of Vodafone and Orange.
