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The reduction of wholesale tariffs of mobile operators comes into force

2024-10-15 07:43:00, Ekonomi CNA

From the beginning of October, the reduction of termination fees in mobile networks came into force.

Termination charges are charges that operators pay to each other for calls made to their respective networks, and the regulation of these charges is the main instrument of regulation of electronic communications markets.

The reduction of these fees was decided in February of this year by the Electronic and Postal Communications Authority (AKEP), which based on the market analysis, AKEP has again announced as Operators with Sensitive Power (OFNT) in the relevant wholesale market the termination of national calls for mobile operators One Albania and Vodafone Albania.

AKEP has decided that the maximum fee for terminating national calls on Vodafone Albania and One Albania mobile networks from October 1 will be reduced from the previous level of 1.1 ALL/minute to 1.02 ALL/minute. The reduction will be staggered and will continue over the next year. On April 1, 2025, the termination fee will be reduced to ALL 0.89/minute, while on October 1, 2025 the rates will be finally reduced to ALL 0.75/minute.

The new termination charges are determined based on the document on the results of the cost model of wholesale services of mobile networks, which was approved by AKEP in 2021. The document in question defines call termination charges to reflect the direct costs, measured for mobile communications operators in Albania.

According to the analysis of the costs prepared by the consultants contracted by AKEP for this purpose, the cost of terminating national calls was about 0.751 ALL per minute, while for incoming international calls 0.762 ALL per minute.

Previously, for the establishment of national call termination rates, AKEP relied on the benchmark method of averaging the rates applied in BEREC countries (Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications).

Although the document with measured costs was approved as early as 2021, the escalating rate reduction in costs remained suspended for approximately three years, pending the new market analysis to announce the OFNT once again.

The cost orientation of wholesale tariffs is considered the best way to enable a fair and honest competition between operators in the retail market. Currently, only two mobile operators operate in Albania, after the closure of the fourth operator, Plus Communication, and the merger between One and Albtelecom operators.

However, this year there are increasing rumors in the market about the possible licensing of a virtual operator (MVNO). In the report for the year 2023, AKEP states that, in full accordance with the legislation and regulatory acts, it will undertake a detailed study on the assessment of the opportunities and impact of the entry of MVNOs into the market of mobile communications services.

Virtual operators do not have their own network infrastructure, but use the network of existing mobile network operators (MNOs) by agreement. MVNO operators are present in most telecommunications markets in Europe and in some cases their operator market share reaches up to 15%. The business model of MVNO operators has quite a wide spectrum.

Some of them function more or less as resellers of mobile network operator (MNO) services, marketing these services under their own brand and following specific marketing strategies. But there are also MVNO operators who own a supporting technical infrastructure, which enables them to add value to the services offered through the MNO network.

AKEP data showed that last year the revenues from wholesale services of mobile operators also suffered a significant decrease last year, while this decrease was balanced by the increase in revenues in retail services, which made the market volume in total was at levels similar to a year ago, with about 25.4 billion ALL./ Monitor magazine