Transcript L ’offre technique et tarifaire d ’interconnexion de

ART approves France Telecom's
2002 interconnection catalogue
30 November 2001
1
The principles of interconnection
• France Telecom, the operator with significant market
power, is obliged to propose an reference interconnection
offer
• This offer is presented in a catalogue which is valid for a
period of one year (from 1st january to 31 december)
• The offer presents a minimal set of services and prices
which must be implemented via interconnection
agreements
• Using these intermediate services, the operators must
create the most advantageous retail offers for consumers
• The catalogue must be approved by ART prior to its
publication
2
How it works
• Operators consulted in early 2001
• ART sets work schedule
• Discussions at the interconnection committee :
operators express their needs
• Negotiations with France Telecom
• Result: 2002 catalogue approved on 30 November
3
Strengths of the 2002 catalogue
1. Internet
2. Voice
3. Other developments
4
1. INTERNET:
flat-rate offer for Internet interconnection (FII)
• What is FII?
= Flat-rate Internet interconnection
= New approach introduced in 2001 in a small
number of European countries
= The possibility of paying for interconnection
according to the number of accesses used regardless of
the number of minutes carried
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1. INTERNET:
flat-rate offer for Internet interconnection (FII)
• ART starts work in late 2000 and publishes its
recommendations in April 2001
• France Telecom defines an offer, not included in its catalogue,
in the second quarter 2001:
– FRF 145 000 (€22 105) per year for 30 circuits on the subscriber
switch (local level) and FRF 280 000 (€ 42 686) per year for 30
circuits on the CPFI (*) (regional level)
– with overflow (cf. see next transparency)
• First offers implemented in September 2001
(*) Connection
point for fixed-rate interconnection at the transit level
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1. INTERNET:
flat-rate offer for Internet interconnection (FII)
The overflow principle
IFI circuits
Operator
point of presence
Overflow
France Telecom
subscriber switch
Time-based circuits
With overflow, when flat-rate circuits are all busy, additional traffic can be
switched to other circuits which are billed on a time basis
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1. INTERNET:
flat-rate offer for Internet interconnection (FII)
• For 2002 and at the subscriber switch, operators can choose a
formula with or without overflow
• 2002 offer without overflow:
Local
Price per year and per 2 Mbits port
15 600 €
102 330 francs
(-30%)
Regional
30 000 €
196 787 francs
(-30%)
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1. INTERNET:
flat-rate offer for Internet interconnection (FII)
• 2002 offer with overflow
Local
Price per year and per 2 Mbits/s port
21 000 €
137 751 francs
(-5%)
Regional (PRIF)
temporary
38 000 €
249 264 francs
(-11%)
• Compared with the prices in the 2001 catalogue set on a
minute basis, before the introduction of flat-rate
interconnection, prices for France Telecom's 2002 flat-rate
offer represents a savings of between 30% and 40%
depending on the operator's situation.
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2/ VOICE
• Changes in time-based prices
• Elimination of the local exchange
10
VOICE: prices
Decrease in time-based prices (1/2)
• ART uses an identical basket of interconnection
consumption services for 2001 and 2002
minutes per 2 Mibts port BPN and per year
Average duration of calls
Répartition du trafic :
- Peak hours
- Off peak hours
- « blue night » hours (super off-peak)
Panier moyen
2,6 millions
3 minutes 20 sec
60%
35%
5%
11
VOICE: prices
Decrease in time-based prices(2/2)
• The drop in time-based prices is between 6% for local to
23.5% for double transit between 2001 and 2002
Price per minute (average basket)
eurocents per minute
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
evolution
2001/2002
evolution
over 4 years
Local level
0,928
0,707
0,667
0,616
0,579
-6,0%
-37,6%
single transit
1,948
1,537
1,356
1,252
1,051
-16,0%
-46,0%
double transit
2,679
2,163
1,918
1,755
1,342
-23,5%
-49,9%
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VOICE: prices
European comparisons: local level (1/3)
Comparaison européenne des tarifs d'interconnexion intra-CA
1,0
0,9
0,94
0,94
Italie
Espagne
0,87
0,8
0,77
0,73
0,67
0,7
0,64
0,62
€/100/min
0,6
0,5
0,55
0,57
0,58
Suède
FT 2002
0,47
0,4
0,3
0,2
0,1
0,0
Royaume- Allemagne
Uni
FT 2001
Danemark
Irlande
Autriche
Belgique
Pays-Bas
Values are calculated including all pricing components, including 2Mbit/s port
13
VOICE: prices
European comparisons: single transit (2/3)
Comparaison européenne des tarifs d'interconnexion simple transit
1,6
1,51
1,4
1,35
1,25
1,2
1,05
1,0
€/100/min
0,90
0,76
0,8
1,08
1,10
1,10
Pays-Bas
Autriche
Belgique
0,93
0,78
0,65
0,6
0,4
0,2
0,0
RoyaumeUni
Suède
Danemark Allemagne
Irlande
FT 2002
FT 2001
Italie
Espagne
Values are calculated including all pricing components, including 2Mbit/s port
14
VOICE: prices
European comparisons: double transit (3/3)
Comparaison européenne des tarifs d'interconnexion double transit
2,5
2,19
2,0
1,88
1,88
Autriche
Italie
1,75
1,56
€/100/min
1,5
1,34
1,36
FT 2002
Pays-Bas
1,42
1,23
1,09
1,0
1,14
0,87
0,5
0,0
Suède
Danemark RoyaumeUni
Irlande
Belgique
Allemagne
FT 2001
Espagne
Values are calculated including all pricing components, including 2Mbit/s port
15
VOICE: prices
Termination diagram
New
Operator
2
New
Operator
1
TS
TS
New
Operator
TS: Transit switch
3
SS
SS: Subscriber switch
1
2
3
Single transit
Double transit
Local level
Direct interconnection offer for L.33-1 operators
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VOICE: prices
Collection diagram
New
Operator
2
New
Operator
1
TS
TS
New
Operator
TS: Transit switch
3
SS
SS: Subscriber switch
1
2
3
Single transit
Subscriber
dials a prefix
Double transit
Local level
Direct interconnection offer for L.33-1 operators
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VOICE:
Introducing the carrier selection in the local sorting
zone
. What is the local sorting zone ?
= the département (except for the Paris region and
Corsica)
= the zone inside which France Telecom keeps
geographical voice calls and inside which the selection of
alternative carriers was not possible for geographical calls
until the end of 2001.
. ART's decision dated 18 July 2001 announced its
elimination for 31 December 2001 at the latest.
. Approved by the Secretary of State for Industry on
26 September 2001
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The consumer at the heart of the operation
. Decision taken following consultation of consumer
associations
. Can refuse the offer, without penalty
. Maintains call-by-call carrier selection for long distance and
local calls
. Maintains the France Telecom subscription with an expected
drop in charges for local calls, a market worth FRF 19 billion in
2000, i.e. 30% of the fixed line market excluding Internet.
19
Introducing the carrier selection in the local
sorting zone
. The catalogue follows ART's decision:
- the operation is conducted by transit area
- operators must inform their client twice prior to the
operation
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ART's decision reflects its priorities
• Support competition (decrease interconnection prices and improve
operating conditions)
• To benefit the consumer (Internet and introducing competition for
local calls)
• Including regional development concerns (approach
favourable to local connections)
• Encouraging the progress of the information society (flatrate Internet interconnection)
21
3/ Other developments
• Decrease of interconnection fees for calls originated
from phone box
– France Telecom adds an extra fee to the single transit
charge for calls from a phone box. This fee represents 3/4
of operator payments to France Telecom
– it falls by 30% from €0.046 in 2001 to € 0.0325 in 2002
– this decrease has a direct impact on the services offered to
the consumer by prepaid card operators.
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3/ Other developments
• Pre-selection charge
– the charge paid by the operator to France Telecom to create
a pre-selected line is cut by 30% (from € 8.54 to €6.00 per
line)
– this cut will accompany the development of pre-selection
which will be expanded to include local calls in 2002
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3/ Other developments
• The third party invoicing with shared revenues offer is
strengthened:
– can open new pricing brackets
– defines pricing methods
– includes changes to the ethics framework
• Extends collection for third parties to carrier pre-selection
traffic
• Extends third party invoicing to 3B PQ numbers
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3/ Other developments
• Introduces the quasi-associated mode (a more efficient
signalling mode which better manages complex interconnection
architectures)
• Interconnection implementation conditions
– Adapts the order process, notably through the reduction in the
minimum duration for 2Mbit/s port contracts from two years to one
– Reduces opening time for area codes and numbers
– Reduces the price of ad hoc services (see next transparency)
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3/ Other developments
• Ad hoc services
– ad hoc services are invoiced by France Telecom for
interconnection architecture modifications (technician
intervention to modify connections between switches)
– prices fall 50% between 2001 and 2002
– these services are expected to develop because of the
introduction of flat-rate interconnection and the opening of
the local exchange
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