Paris, 9 February 2007
ARCEP is submitting to a public consultation and notifying to the European Commission two draft decisions on the specification of mobile operators’ accounting obligations. It is also launching a public consultation on the structure of a technical and economic model for Metropolitan mobile operator costs.
The two draft decisions concern the means of implementing mobile operators’ accounting obligations, in particular the cost accounting obligation and the account separation obligation on the wholesale mobile call termination markets (voice and SMS), when companies have been designated as enjoying power on these markets and these obligations have been imposed on them.
Decision no. 05-0960 dated 8 December 2005 stipulates these obligations for Orange France, SFR, Bouygues Telecom, Orange Caraïbe and SRR. This decision must now be amended for two essential reasons:
- First, a cost accounting obligation and the account separation obligation for SMS was imposed on Metropolitan mobile operators under the SMS call termination market analysis (cf. decision no. 06-0593). However, decision no. 05-0960 which is currently in force, does not sufficiently define the rules applicable to SMS services and does not identify any regulatory restitution for these services.
- Second, the audit of cost and revenue reports of Metropolitan mobile operators held in 2006 showed that there could still be differences in how accounting and cost allocation rules are applied from one operator to another (cf. decisions no. 06-1083 to 06-1088 on the publication of conformity certificates issued by the auditor designated by ARCEP).
The two draft decisions apply respectively to Orange France, SFR and Bouygues Telecom, and to Orange Caraïbe and SRR. Their purpose is to clarify or amend for all mobile operators concerned the points already specified having an impact on the legally-required reports for voice call termination, and, for Metropolitan operators, to clarify the means of applying account separation and cost accounting obligations for SMS services.
The third public consultation covers ARCEP’s development of a technical and economic cost model of a Metropolitan mobile operator, in accordance with what it had announced in decision 06-0779, establishing the levels of voice call termination for 2007. The purpose of this consultation is to give all interested players an opportunity to comment on the model’s structure, in order to improve it if necessary, in particular by upgrading the modeling algorithms, if necessary.
| ATTENTION: Due to the lack of correct data or calibration of the model based on data reflecting the cost structure of mobile networks, ARCEP stresses that the SMS or voice call termination levels resulting from the model are not useable and are not intended for use in any context. ARCEP reminds readers that the results of this initial version of the model do not prejudice in any way the levels which will be obtain following refinement of the input data and model calibration. |
Linked documents
Draft decision no. 07-0128 submitted for public consultation and notified to the European Commission and to the other European regulators on the specification of cost accounting and restitution, in particular account separation imposed on mobile operators on the Metropolitan market (pdf (pdf - 1.36MB)) 
Draft decision no. 07-0129 submitted for public consultation an notified to the European Commission and to the other European regulators on the specification of cost accounting and restitution, in particular account separation imposed on mobile operators on the Overseas market (pdf (pdf - 1.28MB))
Public consultation on the modelling of an efficient mobile operator (pdf (pdf - 234KB))
The model and its notice. Attention, neither the input nor the output data are useable (until the model has been calibrated). (Zip - 10 Mb (zip - 10.06MB))