Public Call for the Quality Assessment of Universal Services in the Electronic Communications

At least once in two years, HAKOM defines whether universal service is provided in an appropriate manner and with the appropriate quality, and determines which operators are interested in providing one or more universal service and / or covering different territories of the Republic of Croatia.
 

ZAGREB, February 8, 2019 - The Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM) announces a public call to establish the quality of universal service in the electronic communications. HAKOM is obliged to promote the interests of users of electronic communications services in different ways, inter alia, by ensuring the access to the universal services for all users. Universal services are the core services in electronic communications that must be accessible to all end-users throughout the Republic of Croatia at affordable prices, based on a reasonable end-user requirement, regardless of their geographic location. The range of services, considered as universal services include the access to the public communications and fixed telephony services, effective internet access, all subscribers directory, subscriber number notifications, public telephone booths, special pricing systems tailored to the needs of socially vulnerable groups and special measures for people with disabilities.
 
In the event that HAKOM determines that a specific service, within the scope of universal services, is provided in a prescribed and appropriate manner, HAKOM is not obliged to assign an operator to provide that part of the universal service, HAKOM has possibility to make decision to abolish the obligation of providing the afore-mentioned part of the universal service to the Furthermore, HAKOM  must provide at least one universal service provider for the access to the public telephone network and publicly available telephone services in a fixed location.
 
In the event that HAKOM determines that a particular universal service is not provided in a prescribed and appropriate manner, HAKOM may decide, by decision, to designate one or more operators to provide that part of the universal service or to announce a Public Call for tenders for the provision of universal services, having regard to the respect of competition, taking into account the principles of objectivity of transparency and non-discrimination, and cannot exclude any operator in advance from imposing the obligation to provide universal services. In the case of carrying out the public tender for the provision of universal services and the existence of an interest in providing the above services by multiple operators, the universal service provider shall be determined on the basis of the most favourable offer of the operator. If no operator applies for public tender to provide universal service, HAKOM may, by decision, determine one or more operators to provide that part of the universal service, in particular having regard to the existence of significant market power of the operator in the relevant market. In deciding on the definition of a universal service provider, HAKOM specifically defines the conditions for providing a more detailed description and quality standard of universal service.