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The day after the Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (Anacom) announced that telecommunications prices rose 6.5% in Portugal in the last eleven years, while in the European Union they fell 11%, Altice Portugal unilaterally decided to suspend “Any institutional relationship with Anacom, apart from what is required by law,” according to the statement on Wednesday.
At a time when the regulator and the incumbent operators take opposite positions on the fifth generation of the mobile network (5G), the owner of Meo, who on more than one occasion has called for the dismissal of the current Anacom board of directors, considers that the “Raindrop” pricing theme.
Altice understands that the regulator by stating that telecommunications prices in Portugal “compare unfavorably” with Europe is “camouflaging the extremely serious situation surrounding the 5G technology auction.”
The company led by Alexandre Fonseca maintains that the information released by the communications regulator “is nothing more than a falsehood”, again accusing Anacom of “deceiving the country.”
“The regulator insists on comparing what is not comparable, contributing only to the promotion of a regulatory context that encourages mistrust, unpredictability and the promotion of divestment”, underlines the head of Meo.
For the telecommunications company, Anacom must carry out a price study or a market analysis before taking official positions. This is because the company led by Alexandre Fonseca maintains that the data from the National Institute of Statistics and Eurostat “are indicators that should not and cannot be used for price analysis, since they do not allow a real and true analysis”.
For this reason, “based on the public position of international investment banks and analysts,” participation Altice Europe assures that they feel “totally legitimate to suspend, from now on, any institutional relationship with Anacom, except as required by law.”
In allusion to guardianship, the owner of Meo also mentions that it is “regrettable” that other institutions “with high responsibilities in the country do not act to eradicate so much irresponsibility.” Alexandre Fonseca’s team understands that, currently, there is no “space” for a “reasonable and constructive dialogue” with the regulator.
What did Anacom reveal about telecommunications prices?
The communications regulator announced on Tuesday, citing Eurostat data, that telecommunications prices in Portugal increased 6.5% between the end of 2009 and October 2020, while in the European Union they fell 11%.
“The difference narrowed with the entry into force on May 15, 2019 of the new European regulations that regulate the prices of intra-community communications,” says the Anacom statement.
The organization led by João Cadete de Matos indicates that only two countries have experienced higher price growth than Portugal in the last eleven years: Slovenia and Romania.
“The differences between the evolution of telecommunications prices in Portugal and in the European Union are mainly due to the price adjustments that providers have implemented for several years, generally in the first months of each year,” the statement read.
As for Portugal, the same note highlights that the country “continues to record high retail prices for electronic communications service offers compared to other European Union countries.”
“In a recent comparison, using an index from 0 to 100, carried out by the European Commission, Portugal ranked fifth in the world among the highest prices in the EU, ahead of Spain, Greece, Ireland and Cyprus”, he highlights Anacom.
“The prices of convergent offers (for example in 4P / 5P packages) were also ranked fifth among the highest prices in the EU,” he adds, noting that the prices of individualized mobile service offers (voice and Internet ), occupied a similar position among the Member States.
“The prices of isolated broadband offers ranked seventh among the highest prices in the EU,” the statement read.
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