TIRANA, June 4 – The Electronic and Postal Communication Authority AKEP says mobile termination tariffs, which are fees mobile phone companies charge other carriers to terminate calls on their networks, will undergo another cut of 10-20 percent which is expected to further lower mobile tariffs due to tough competition between the four mobile operators.
In a public consultation report analyzing the mobile market, AKEP says that starting from September 1 2012, mobile termination tariffs for the three biggest operators will undergo their fourth decrease. The Electronic and Postal Communications Authority (AKEP) says mobile termination tariffs will drop to 6.1 lek/min VAT-excluded for AMC and Vodafone Albania and at 6.52 lek/min for Eagle Mobile.
Termination tariffs started lowering in March 2011 when they dropped to 8.85 lek/minute for the two biggest operators AMC and Vodafone Albania, down from 10.5 lek/min previously.
The AKEP decision is aimed at providing cost oriented tariffs for operators with significant market power. According to AKEP, termination tariffs for the three operators it considers as having significant market power, AMC, Vodafone Albania and Eagle Mobile will be reduced to 4.57 lek/min by September 2014, down from 10.5 lek/min currently.
AKEP also says it is concluding an analysis on the SMS termination tariffs, which it says are currently at 7 times higher than their cost. AKEP says the current termination tariff is 4 lek/SMS at a time when the cost is 0.58 lek/SMS. The Electronic Communications Authority foresees to lower these tariffs to 0.58 lek/SMS for all four operators by September 2013 starting with gradual decreases in four stages for the next two years. In September 2011, the SMS termination tariffs dropped 1.44 lek, according to recommended tariffs.
The number of mobile phone subscribers in 2011, when another fourth operator launched operations rose by 15 percent to 5.2 million, for a resident population 2.8 million people, revealing that almost every resident Albanian possesses at least two SIM cards. While Albania’s mobile penetration rate stands at a record 185 percent, the situation with fixed-line telephony lags behind with an estimated 12 percent, considerably lower to the EU 27 average rate of 45 percent.
AKEP reports some 70,000 subscribers ported their number one year after the service was made available in May 2011.
Increased competition and interventions by the Electronic and Postal Communications Authority have considerably lowered mobile tariffs during the past 3 years in Albania, but still remain slightly above the average in the region.
Tariff transparency
The Electronic and Postal Communication Authority has issued a new regulation which obliges electronic communications operators to increase their transparency over the publication of tariffs for the services they provide. The regulation which has been put up for public consultation until late June foresees that mobile and internet operators have to provide detailed and accurate information to customers over tariffs, quality and general terms of access.
“The published tariffs must be exactly the same to those customers are charged. This means that tariffs must also include VAT or other state obligations. The information should be clear and easily accessible on the operators’ websites, points of sale” says the regulation.
