2013 Annual Report Of

COMMUNICATIONS REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA ANNUAL REPORT 2013 Communications Regulatory Authority of the Republic of Lithuania Annual Report 2013 FOREWORD BY THE DIRECTOR OF THE COMMUNICATIONS REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA I am glad having this opportunity to present the twelfth report of the Communications Regulatory Authority of the Republic of Lithuania (RRT). Compared to the previous year, the year 2013 was different, exceptional. Sometimes we had to take urgent action, to look for new solutions, new possibilities after we encountered certain challenges. As a public administration authority we sought both to contribute to the implementation of the priorities of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania for 2013 and to implement our own goals and priorities. One of RRT’s priorities in 2013 was ensuring conditions for efficient competition in the sector of electronic communications. Competition among service providers and regulation of wholesale services of electronic communications implemented by RRT created conditions for efficient competition in the retail market without a specific intervention by RRT. In 2013 RRT finished analysis of four public fixed telephone services markets, which demonstrated that these markets had characteristics favourable for development of competition without the necessity to apply ex ante regulation. Referring to this, RRT withdrew the obligations that had been previously imposed on undertakings in the public fixed telephone services markets. Looking forward, we are optimistic because, in spite of the revenues in the sector of electronic communications that are decreasing every year, the market players continue investing into the electronic communications infrastructure. In 2013, compared to 2012, investments into the electronic communications infrastructure increased by 16 per cent. Operators mostly invested into the development of 3G, 4G and optical fibre networks, modernisation of core networks. These investments will ensure further geographic accessibility of new services to consumers. As the digital literacy of the Lithuanian society is improving and the number of consumers using smart devices is increasing, the need for data transmission services, their variety and quality, is increasing, too. We make efforts towards further development of the infrastructure of modern electronic communications networks, giving possibilities to benefit from most advanced technologies, to create cloud computing, e- commerce, e-government and other services. In 2013 the obligations imposed on TEO LT, AB in the wholesale broadband communication access market became effective. These obligations will create favourable conditions for other providers of electronic communications services to make use of the infrastructure of TEO LT, AB and to provide a variety of electronic communications services. Development of the infrastructure of electronic communications networks and use of new technologies are also facilitated by effective management of radio frequencies. That is an integral area of RRT’s activities and one of the most important priorities of RRT in 2013. I would like to mention a public auction for radio frequencies (channels), which was organised for the first time in the history of RRT, as an extraordinary event in the resource management area. During the auction, at the end of 2013, RRT issued permits to three auction winners to use radio frequencies (channels) from the 800 MHz radio frequency band, intended for further development of 4G LTE networks and provision of electronic communications 1 Communications Regulatory Authority of the Republic of Lithuania Annual Report 2013 services in Lithuania in such networks. It is expected that due to physical propagation properties of these radio frequencies, 4G networks will also reach rural locations in Lithuania, in this way ensuring even greater broadband communication penetration and accessibility of electronic communications services in the whole territory of the country. The year 2013 was marked by extraordinary events in the postal market, too, to which RRT paid particular attention. At the beginning of the year, the Lithuanian postal sector underwent essential changes – the postal services market was liberalised, the reserved area was removed, which means that all postal services providers can compete without any restrictions. Competition will encourage all participants of the postal services market to develop their activities more effectively, to improve the quality of the postal services and the range of offered services. Thus, the immediate and important task for RRT will be ensuring and encouraging transparent and effective competition in the postal market. During the lastdecades, the importance of cyberspace and Internet in the life of the society and for economic development has been constantly increasing, use of electronic services has been getting more and more active. In performance of the functions of supervision over the electronic signature, in 2013 we noticed a significant increase in the demand for valid qualified certificates – the total number of qualified certificates issued by certification service providers in Lithuania increased by 27.6 per cent and reached almost 1 million. Looking ahead, it is planned that the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market will be approved in 2014. It is expected that the proposed new legal regulation will create a cross-border and cross- sector framework on the European Union level for ensuring secure, trustworthy and easy-to-use electronic transactions that encompasses electronic identification, electronic signatures, electronic seals, electronic time stamping, electronic documents, electronic delivery services and website authentication. Ensuring security of electronic communications is an activity, which is integrally related to the electronic communications market regulation activities, as only secure electronic environment increases consumers’ trust. It is obvious that the increasing importance of cyberspace urges immediate attention to the Internet reliability, interoperability and security problems. In 2013, the European Commission announced the communication “Cybersecurity Strategy of the European Union: An Open, Safe and Secure Cyberspace” and tabled a proposal for the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning measures to ensure a high common level of network and information security across the Union. Implementation of the said Strategy and the proposed Directive concerning network and information security should improve prevention of and response to cyber incidents. As regards CERT-LT activities and prevention of cyber-attacks performed by RRT, it is noteworthy that in 2013 CERT-LT investigated 25,337 cybersecurity incidents in the Lithuanian cyberspace. Compared to 2012, we investigated 18 per cent more incidents (21,416 incidents in 2012). Also, in 2013 CERT-LT detected and neutralised a botnet control server operating in Lithuania, which could control 5,400 computers in the world. CERT-LT is consistently improving the system developed by it, which has no analogues in Europe, which helps RRT to analyse the infrastructure of the Lithuanian web (Internet address spaces, routes, autonomous systems, etc.), to evaluate integrity of the web in the country, to monitor the web elements, reliability of operation of infrastructure elements, to identify elements of critical infrastructure and to perform monitoring of such objects. CERT-LT is consistently improving measures intended for efficient management and solving of incidents, for analysis of malicious code, searching for gaps in websites and network equipment. Also, CERT-LT created tools freely accessible to Internet service providers and Internet 2 Communications Regulatory Authority of the Republic of Lithuania Annual Report 2013 users, which help to assess and solve security problems in the network and equipment. It should also be mentioned that from the last year CERT-LT is ready for uninterrupted work 24 hours per day. Having joined the Safer Internet project, RRT continues to ensure functioning of the Internet hotline, the purpose of which is to give the society a possibility to anonymously inform about illegal or harmful content on the Internet. The Safer Internet Day conference “Connect with respect and responsibility!” was organised as usual at the beginning of the year. About 700 pupils from various regions of Lithuania,.participated in the conference, including those connected via teleconference. At the beginning of 2013 we were already ready for the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU Council. Preparatory work was well appreciated because, under RRT representative’s chairmanship the Council Working Party on Technical Harmonisation (Radio Equipment) managed to achieve a significant progress regarding the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to the making available on the market of radio equipment. We are glad that the maximum result was attained – a compromise text of the directive was approved and a political consensus on provisions of the directive was achieved. During the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU Council, the Eastern Partnership was one of the priority areas of Lithuania. Our wish, even duty, to pay tribute and to share our experience encourages us to actively

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