Regulation is part of the market environment in which TeliaSonera operates and we need to adapt to any change. Regulatory intervention remains a primary challenge together with intense competition and customer migration. As a strong player in many markets, TeliaSonera is significantly impacted by alterations in regulation, since these can change business conditions.
TeliaSonera's view is that sector-specific regulations, particularly in the developed Nordic markets, should gradually be withdrawn in order to stimulate investments and innovation, and that the telecom sector should eventually only be regulated by general competition legislation.
However, the telecom market remains a regulated market. In November 2007, the EU Commission published its proposals for a “Revised regulatory framework for electronic communications.” Following decisions by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament a revised framework is expected to be implemented. Proposals include a new market-based strategy for the allocation of frequencies with increased flexibility in the use and trade of frequencies.
The Commission also proposed to provide regulatory authorities with the additional remedy of functional separation. That implies authorities would have the power to require market dominant operators to separate their access network activities, as an exceptional obligation subject to Commission oversight. In Sweden, such legal provisions on functional separation already entered into force on July 1, 2008.
There are developments on EU level and nationally on how to adapt regulations to the emergence of what is often called Next Generation Access Networks. TeliaSonera's standpoint is that the regulatory environment should give the right incentives for operators to be able to invest in the modernization of networks, particularly by introducing fiber in the access networks.
In 2007, EU rules were introduced to regulate prices and conditions for international roaming, for example for mobile phone use abroad. The regulation requires a gradual reduction of both retail and wholesale prices over a three year period, but only for voice calls. In September 2008, the Commission proposed to extend the scope of the Roaming Regulation to cover also SMS services and data roaming. The duration of the regulation for voice calls will be extended for three more years with further gradual price reductions. The proposed amendments have been submitted to the European Parliament and to the Council, which must both agree before the proposal can become law. The same rules will apply to Norway as an EEA country even if the implementation time may differ.
Regulatory environment in Eurasia
The regulatory environment in Eurasia is different from that of the EU. Obviously, there is no overall regulatory ”umbrella” such as the EU regulatory framework and the topical regulatory issues are specific to each country. However, they often relate to spectrum assignment for our mobile operations and regulation of mobile termination rates.
It can be noted that in Russia, the regulatory authority regulates both retail prices and termination rates for fixed-to-mobile calls. Three Russian nationwide 3G licenses were granted at a beauty contest in 2007. The frequencies are not yet fully available but are still used by various governmental organizations for example in Moscow. Mobile Number Portability, MNP, and Mobile Virtual Network Operators, MVNOs, have not been introduced in Russia.
In Turkey, the Telecommunications Law was reformed in 2000 and 2001. The reforms aimed at modernizing and reforming the legal and institutional framework for the provision of telecommunications infrastructure and services in Turkey. The Telecommunications Authority is a financially and administratively independent telecommunications regulator, which has the authority to grant licenses and set fees in the telecommunications sector. In 2008 MNP was introduced and three 3G mobile licenses were granted through auction where each actor, including Turkcell, received a license for different bandwidths.