– Guarantee the neutrality of their staff with regard to the content and integrity of messages transmitted on their network;

– To inform their staff of their obligations and the penalties they incur for breaching criminal legislation relating to the confidentiality of correspondence;

– To ensure the protection, integrity and confidentiality of the personal information they hold11 and process;

– To ensure that any information transmitted or stored cannot be disclosed to a third party without the consent of the person concerned.

Guarantee of Operators to Users;

– To object, free of charge, to the use by the operator of billing data concerning him/her for the purposes of commercial canvassing;

– To prohibit, free of charge, the use of personal information concerning him/her, taken from subscriber lists, for commercial operations, with the exception of operations concerning the authorized activity and falling within the contractual relationship between the operator and the subscriber.

– To obtain, free of charge, that the information concerning him be updated;

– To include the full address or any other information enabling the subscriber to be identified.

– Ensure the regular operation of its facilities; ensure the permanent provision of services;

– Protect its facilities by appropriate preventive measures against risks, threats and attacks of any kind;

– Guarantee the deployment, as quickly as possible, of technical and human resources capable of mitigating the most serious consequences of the failure, neutralisation or destruction of its facilities in the event of exceptional circumstances;

– Be able to respond to national defence and public safety requirements, and in particular to implement the resources requested by the State as part of emergency plans;

– Be able, in times of crisis or in the event of imperative need, to establish links specially reserved for national defence or public safety;

– To route emergency electronic communications free of charge and locate their origin;

– Provide, at the request of the competent authorities, its assistance to bodies dealing with electronic communications security issues at national level;

– To facilitate the Agency’s tasks when carrying out its supervisory duties.

There are two categories of licence:

– The first category licence;

– The second category licence.

The first category licence covers:

– Any support service;

– Radioelectric networks open to the public in one or more localities, with the exception of those referred to in article 25 of this decree;

– Collection and/or distribution networks for the provision of electronic communications services to the public;

– Electronic communications networks open to the public in rural areas;

– Virtual networks open to the public;

– Portability of telephone numbers.

The implementation procedures, as well as the specific conditions applicable to the issuance of licences for the portability of numbers and virtual networks open to the public, as referred to in the paragraph above, shall be laid down by specific texts.

The establishment and/or operation of the following are covered by the second category licence:

– Independent private networks, excluding those subject to simple declaration;

– Temporary networks;

– Experimental networks.

LICENCE APPLICATION

The application for a first category licence, sent to the Agency in seven (07) copies, shall include:

– Proof of payment to the Agency of the application fees set by a particular tee;

– The technical and financial files.

The technical file includes:

– The name or business name and full address of the applicant;

– The legal status of the company, as well as the composition of its capital and the distribution of voting rights;

– The declaration, purpose and characteristics of the services to be offered;

– The purpose and technical characteristics of the network;

– The technical specifications of the equipment;

– The timetable for implementation, specifying in particular the capacity and coverage area year by year;

– Experience acquired in the field of electronic communications, specifying the technical partners in the project and their previous achievements.

The financial file must:

– Indicate the origin and amount of the planned funding, specifying the identities of the main financial backers;

– Contain proof of the company’s financial capacity and a guarantee to finance the project if the licence is granted;

– Specify the nature and level of planned investment; include the company’s business plan.

The application for a second category licence, sent to the agency in seven (07) copies, shall comprise:

■ A form completed and stamped at the current rate in lieu of an application, comprising:

o Information relating to the natural person responsible for the network;

o The name, address and activities of the natural or legal person responsible for the network;

o The declaration, purpose and characteristics of the services to be operated on its private network;

■ The technical characteristics and detailed description of the network and network equipment.

– The establishment and operation of nationwide electronic communications networks open to the public, with the exception of transport networks;

– The establishment and operation of electronic communications transport networks, including the operation of landing stations for submarine cables and teleports to one or more satellite networks.

The concession agreement for the establishment and operation of electronic communications networks open to the public is awarded to any legal entity governed by public or private law that is the successful tenderer.

The invitation to tender referred to in paragraph 1 above shall state, in particular, the conditions for access to and interconnection with the various public networks and, where applicable, the conditions for leasing the elements of these networks that are necessary for the establishment of the new network or for the provision of the service that is the subject of the invitation to tender.

And, where applicable, the conditions for leasing the elements of these networks necessary for the establishment of the new network or for the provision of the service which is the subject of the invitation to tender.

The concession is awarded taking into account the ability to finance and implement the project, the prospects for operating the service, the potential customer base and the public interest in the project.

The concession is subject to compliance with the specifications contained in a schedule of conditions attached to the agreement and covering in particular:

– The nature, characteristics and coverage area of the service;

– The conditions of permanence, quality and availability of the service;

– The conditions of confidentiality and neutrality of the service with regard to the messages transmitted;

– The requirements of national defence, public safety, health and environmental protection and town planning objectives;

– Network and service norms and standards;

– The use of allocated frequencies;

– The operator’s contribution to research, training and standardisation in the field of electronic communications;

– The conditions of interconnection and, where applicable, the principle of payment of charges for access to electronic communications networks open to the public;

– The conditions for sharing infrastructures;

– The terms of contribution to the general missions of the State and, in particular, to the missions and charges of the universal service and regional development;

– The free routing of emergency electronic communications etc.

– Following a revision of international regulations and the need to comply with them;

– Following the adoption of new provisions and rules for the use of frequencies or new planning;

– As a result of interference on a frequency channel which necessitates a new assignment of frequencies for the continued operation of the network; or

– For national defence or public security purposes.

In the cases referred to in paragraph 1 above, the authorisation holder must make the prescribed changes within the time limits set by the Agency. He shall inform the Agency of the measures taken to apply the changes prescribed, no later than fifteen (15) days after their implementation.

The holder of an authorisation must, on simple notification to the Agency, modify at its own expense the technical characteristics of its equipment in the event of a change in the frequencies assigned to its network or in the minimum regulatory standards imposed on the equipment.

Independent private networks may be connected to electronic communications networks open to the public, provided that they do not allow the exchange of electronic communications between persons other than those for whom use of the independent network is reserved.

Any breach of the provisions of paragraph 1 above will result in the cancellation of the authorisation, without prejudice to any legal proceedings that may be taken against the authorisation holder etc.

The authorisation system enshrines the principles of technological neutrality, convergence, multiplicity of services and interoperability of networks and information systems in a competitive environment.

The establishment and/or operation of networks and the provision of electronic communications services must be carried out under conditions of fair competition, in accordance with the legislation in force and accepted international practice in the field of electronic communications.

The conditions of competition referred to in paragraph 2 above concern all measures intended to prevent operators from adopting or maintaining anti-competitive practices such as:

– Anti-competitive cross-subsidies;

Use of information obtained from competitors for unfair competition purposes;

– Refusal to make available to other authorised operators, in a timely manner, technical information on essential facilities and relevant commercial information necessary for the provision of services.

Operators are required to provide services under transparent and non-discriminatory conditions of transparency and under the same conditions as those granted to their subsidiaries or associates.

Operators shall guarantee the principle of equality and non-discrimination in the pricing of services offered to users nationwide.

The non-discrimination stated above shall not exclude reductions in tariffs linked to specific subscription conditions or to high volumes of traffic, provided that these conditions are published with the tariffs and that the reductions are applicable without discrimination to any customer meeting these conditions.

Tariffs applied by operators of networks open to the public, value-added service providers and traffic resellers must be geared to real costs.

The tariffs for the electronic communications services offered are set by the operators in compliance with the principle of equal treatment of users and in such a way as to avoid discrimination based on geographical location.

Operators are required to inform the public of their general terms and conditions of service and to publish their service tariffs.

Before marketing the service, operators are required to submit a notice publishing tariffs in accordance with the conditions laid down in the specifications.

Where operators offer wholesale electronic communications services to providers of electronic communications services or value-added services with a view to resale to their own customers, resale must be made under objective and non-discriminatory technical and pricing conditions.

Operators must keep analytical accounts that show the costs, revenues and results of each network operated and each service offered.

The accounts and summary statements, drawn up no later than six (06) months after the end of the financial year, may be audited, at the operators’ expense, by an approved body designated by the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency, hereinafter referred to as “the Agency”.

The purpose of the audit is to ensure that the summary statements give a true and fair view of the costs, income and results of each network operated or service offered.

For the Regulator:

To establish on its own initiative the existence of a dispute between electronic communications network operators relating in particular to:

– Interconnection or access to an electronic communications network;

– Local loop unbundling;

– Numbering;

– Frequency interference;

– Physical co-location and infrastructure sharing.

For one or more Operators:

Refer to the Regulator a dispute with one or more other operators concerning:

– Interconnection or access to an electronic communications network;

– Local loop unbundling;

– Numbering;

– Frequency interference;

– Physical co-location;

– Infrastructure sharing.

Composition of the file:

The case is referred to the Agency by the parties:

– Either by a request addressed to the Director General, filed at the head office or at a Regional Delegation against receipt;

– By registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt addressed to the Director General;

– Or by any other means in writing.

In the case of the operator, the request must specify:

– The status of the applicant;

– Its company name;

– Its legal form;

– Its registered office;

– The identity of its representative;

– As many copies of the articles of association as there are parties, plus one;

– A receipt for payment of the costs of the proceedings;

– To have suffered an inconvenience as a result of using electronic communications products and services;

– To have referred the complaint to the operator concerned beforehand;

– Violation by the concession operators and service providers of the regulatory provisions on consumer protection for electronic communications products and services.

Composition of the application:

• Documents to be produced:

– The consumer’s or user’s request;

– Proof of the loss suffered;

– Proof of prior referral to the operator causing the loss.

• Documents to consult:

– Letter from the ART to the operator;

– Operator’s response announcing compensation for damages;

– Letter of notification of the operator’s response to the complaint.

– Failure of two operators to reach an amicable settlement;

– Partial conciliation in the context of a dispute.

Composition of the file:

– Request from an electronic communications operator;

– Receipt for payment of procedural costs;

– The articles of association in as many copies as there are parties.

Documents to consult:

– Minutes of partial conciliation;

– Minutes of non conciliation;

– Any other document added to the file.

Conditions to be met:

Be an operator holding a concession agreement or a 1st category license.

Composition of the application:

Documents to be provided:

• A reasoned request addressed to the Managing Director;
• Proof of the failure of the concessionary operator for the establishment and operation of transport networks (CAMTEL) to make available interurban transmission interurban transmission network resources that meet the needs of the said operators;
• The technical documentation including the diagram, configuration, characteristics of the transmission links, the exact location/route of each link to be established on a usable physical and electronic medium.