Roaming Expert Working Group (REWG)

Roaming Expert Working Group (REWG)

MINUTES

2nd meeting of the

Roaming Expert Working Group (REWG)

11-12May 2017

Prague, Czech Republic

HIGHTLIGHTS /EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The 2ndREWG meeting was held on 11-12May 2017 in Prague, Czech Republic.

The main goals of the 2nd REWG meeting wereto present the draft of the Terms of Reference for the Study on harmonizing international roaming pricing and reducing roaming tariffs among the 6 EaP partner countries (hereinafter: ToR for the Study) and discuss it with all REWG members and the Study teamthat will implementthe Study, toupdate the REWG Action Plan for 2017, as well as to review the current situation on international roaming markets in the EaPP countries, discuss other organizational mattersof REWG activity in 2017 and other issuesthat might have been raised during the meeting.

Covering the agenda of the 2nd REWG meeting, the participants discussed a number of important issues and made major decisions not only for the further conduction of REWG activity but for the implementation of the Roaming initiative in general.

The main ones are thefollowing:

  • REWG activity and its main achievements in 2016 were summarized;
  • ToR for the Study was presented and discussed in details;
  • Study team has beenintroducedand their vision of the Study implementation was presented. The latterwas discussed in details by theparticipants.

According to these discussions, participants agreed on thefollowing:

-all REWG members will participatein the Study implementation regarding general topics/issues, however the issues concerning RRA and the relevant activities will onlyinvolve 6 EaPP countries;

-RRA should be signed at high level to ensuresustainability;

-the questionnaire for necessary data collection will be updated by the Study team basedon the comments and suggestions provided by REWG members during the meeting. The questionnaire will be sent to REWG members for distribution and filling upby operators ofeach EaPP country by official letters on behalf of the EC. Information and data received from the operators should be analysed and verified by NRAs before it is sent to the Study team;

-confidential information and data, which will be provided by operators shallnot be published by the Study team;

-EaPP NRAs/Ministriesshallfully support the Study implementation and provide any support of the national experts in their activities, organize common meetings between NRAs/Ministries, national experts and operators, if necessary;

-NRAs/Ministriesshallprovide the Study team with utmostdetailed information regarding requested questions by e-mail, including the names of a Focal point of each EaPP country.

  • Implementation of the Roaming Study was officiallyinitiated;
  • REWG Action Plan for 2017 was updated and approved by REWG members;
  • Western Balkan countries’ experience concerning the Roaming Regulation and the implementation of the Regional Roaming Agreement was presented and studied, the possibility to apply this experience to theEaPP countries was analyzed;
  • Current situation on national roaming markets in the EaPP countries waspresented and discussed with the Study team;
  • Roaming Regulation in the EU: state of play for RLAH, experience of EU Roaming Regulation implementation in Latvia and Lithuanian and BEREC Guidelines on Regulation (EU) No. 531/2012 were studied;
  • All EaPP countries preliminarilyconfirmed that there are no obvious reasons, which wouldnot allow signing RRA and expressed their readiness to sign RRA if it’s feasible and the relevant political decision is made in their countries;
  • EaPP countries supported the suggestion to include in the Declaration, which should be adopted at the Ministerial Meeting (5thOctober 2017, Brussels, Belgium), the relevant statement or prepare the annex to the Declaration, which will demonstrate the willingness of all EaPP countries and their Ministers to welcome the results of the Study and readiness to make all efforts possible for the implementation of Study results and recommendations and further cooperation on this matter among the EaPP countries.
  • EaPP NRAs agreed to inform their Ministries about the Study, necessity to join the Declaration and discuss the possibility to conclude a pre-agreement on roaming. The results of such consultations should be presented by the EaPP countries at the next REWG meeting.
  • The next REWG meeting will take place in Vilnius, Lithuania in late September – early October 2017. The specific date is to be defined by REWG members later as the work progresses.
  • REWG members will use the EaPeReg official website for the creation of the REWG Forum for closer cooperation among its members.

MAIN CONTEXT

The 2nd REWG meeting was organized by the National Commission for the State Regulation of Communications and Informatization (NCCIR) as REWG Chair and the Czech Telecommunication Office (CTU) as thehost party. All logistics were provided by Cecoforma. The event was funded by the European Commission.

Representatives of 6 EaPP countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine), 7 EU Member States (Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Sweden and the Czech Republic), the European Commission (DG CONNECT), the Study team as well as therepresentative of the RCC[1] attended the meeting.

The 2ndREWG meeting was opened by the welcome speech ofMr. Jaromir Novák, Chairman of the Council of the CTU and the opening remarks of Ms. Liliia Malon, REWG Chair, Head of International Affairs and European Integration Division of NCCIR,
Mr. Audrius Šniepis, REWG Co-Chair, Acting Deputy Director of Networks Regulation Department of RRTand Mr. Vassilis Kopanas, DG CONNECT of European Commission.

At the beginning of 2nd REWG Meeting, the participants introduced themselves, reviewed and consequently approved the meeting’s agenda.

The following actions were identified and approved by the participants of the
2nd REWG meeting (hereinafter – the participants):

  1. Summary of REWG activities and its main achievements in 2016 werepresented by REWG Chair.
  2. The participants reviewed the ToR for the Study (see Annex 1)[2], which was presented by REWG Chair.After the ToR for the Study has beenpresented, REWG members and Study team had the possibility to discuss its the main provisions.
  3. All members of the Study team headed by the Study Team Leader
    Ms. Serena Romano introduced themselves to the participants.

The Study team consists of the following experts:

Mr. Przemysław Musiałkowski, Project manager/Team Leader

Ms. Serena Romano, Study Team Leader

Mr. Rokas Salasevicius, Senior Expert

National experts:

Mr. Sergey Harutyunyan – AM

Mr. Yashar Hajiyev – AZ

Mr. Yauheni Krasnianski – BY

Mr. Ucha Seturi – GE

Mr. Dan Perciun – MD

Mr. Kirill Krivolap – UA

The Study Team Leader presented the general information about HiQSTEP project and its experience, and a very detailed Study team’s vision regarding the carrying out of the Study according to the approved ToR for the Study and provided suggestions to conductthe Study more effectively.

At the same time, Mr. Rokas Salasevicius, Senior expert, presented in details the questionnaire for necessary data collection, which has beenprepared by the Study team.

The questionnaire contains inquiriesabout the overall financial situation of the EaPP operators and detailed information regardingthe different roaming services (sorted by the destination country) that are provided by the relevant operators.

  1. During the roundtable discussion on the Study implementation and further cooperation between REWG and the Study team:
  • Study Team Leader suggested creatinga REWG sub-group, which will act as a body under RRA’s terms and ensure coordination among the NRAs so that the prices reductions start at the same time and be identical among the EaPP countries.

During the round-table discussion on this matter, it was suggested by REWG Chair to involve all REWG members in the Study implementation regarding the general topics/issues;meanwhile, all issues concerning RRA and its relevant activitiesshould only involvethe 6 EaPP countries. This suggestion was supported by REWG members.

  • After some discussions, the participants agreed on the necessity of a high level RRA signing (government level or higher, the latter will depended on the political decision made).
  • The participants also discussed the procedure of data collection and agreed that the questionnaire(s) for necessary data collection[3]suggested by the Study team will be updated by the Study team basedon the comments and suggestions provided by REWG members, and will be sent to REWG members for distribution (by official letters[4]) and filling up by the operators of each EaPP country.

The data collected should be analyzed and verified by the NRAs before it issent to the Study team.

Moreover, the participants also discussed and agreed that when filling upthe questionnaire, all countries should usethe same currency – theEURO. The Study team will provide the list of exchange rates.

  • The participants discussed the issue of providingto the Study team the information and data, identified as confidential by operators , and agreed to provide such data as a general information (in comparisonwith other operators, average data at country level etc.) after it isanalyzed and verified.

Moreover, the confidential information and data will not be published by the Study team.

  • The representatives of 6 EaPP countries confirmed that their NRAs will provide necessarysupport to the national experts’ activities, i.a. organize common meetings between NRAs, national experts and operators etc.
  • The Study Team Leader suggested to identify the Focal point in each EaPP country that will be responsible for cooperation between the NRAs and the Study team.

The representatives of 6 EaPP countries agreed to provide the names of Focal points, after internal consultations within the NRAs.

  • Apart form the abovementioned issues, the representatives of 6 EaPP countries and several EU Member States provided the answers to the Study team’s questions regarding: the existing regulatory framework allowing the NRAs to reduce roaming tariffs, the NRAs’authorityallowing themto obtain data from operatorswhile specifying the type ofdata– (revenue split by service, traffic split by service, total profitability by service:detailed roaming data – traffic, revenue, wholesale costs by service and direction, time required to collect such data, what EU roaming reduction impact studies could be obtained from EC etc.

Summarizing the NRAs’ answers to the abovementioned questions, it can be stated that all EaPP countries have the same situation with regard to roaming, which is unregulated: roaming tariffs are established by operators, all NRAs need at least a month for the collection of thedatarequired. The main difference between countries is which information can be obtained from the operators and the regularity of this process.

More detailed answers to these questions will be provided by the NRAs via e-mail, if required by the Study team.

  1. The participants discussed and approved the updated REWG Action Plan for 2017 prepared by REWG Leadership and presented by REWG Chair (see Annex 2).
  2. Mr. Vassilis Kopanas, (DG CONNECT, European Commission) briefly informed participants regarding the Roaming Regulation in the EU: state of play for RLAH and current situation of its implementation in the EU.

Additionally, he informed the participants about two major events, which will take place in 2017: the Ministerial Meeting on the digital economy of the EaPP(5th October 2017, Tallinn, Estonia,hereinafter: the Ministerial Meeting) and the EaP Summit
(24th November 2017, Brussels, Belgium). The representative of DG CONNECT also paid participants’ attention to thenecessity to have the first Study results and clear understanding of how the results and recommendations will be implemented by all EaPP countries.

  1. The participants also had an opportunity to Skype with Ms. Maja Handjiska-Trendafilova (RCC), who presented the Western Balkan countries’ experience concerning the Roaming Regulation and the implementation of the Regional Roaming Agreement.

During this session the participants discussed the Western Balkan countries’ case in details and attemptedto analyze which expertise can be implemented for6 EaPP countries, including the possibility of two roaming agreements: political (at high level) and practical (at NRAs level).

  1. Presentations on the “Current situation on national roaming markets and regulatory framework in the EaPP countries – country experiences” were presented by the NRAs’experts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

The following reports regarding the current situation on national roaming markets and regulatory framework in the EaPP countries were presented at the 2ndREWG meeting:

  • Roaming regulation – experience of the Republic of Armenia (PSRC).
  • Georgia – International Roaming Market (GNCC).
  • Roaming markets in Azerbaijan (MCHT).
  • Current situation on roaming market in Republic of Belarus (MPT).
  • Roaming services in the Republic of Moldova (ANRCETI).
  • Current situation on the national roaming market in Ukraine (NCCIR).

All reports were prepared on and according to the Study team’s request.

During the presentation of the abovementioned topics, the REWG members and the Study team had the opportunity to discuss and clarify some additional mattersfor a better understanding of the national roaming markets in each EaPP country.

  1. During the “Problematic issues on the national roaming markets in the EaPP countries” session the REWG members:

•Discussed the possiblereasons, preventing an EaPP country fromsigning the Regional Roaming Agreement among the EaPP (hereinafter: RRA), ifRRA is identified as the best way to establish the harmonized approach to roaming pricing and reduction of roaming tariffs among the EaPP.

All EaPP countries preliminarilyconfirmed that at this moment there are no obvious reasons, which would prevent them from signing RRA, and expressed their readiness to sign RRA if it’s feasible and the relevant political decision ismade in their countries.

  • Turningback to the discussion of Western Balkan countries’ case,
    Mr. Vassilis Kopanas suggested to the EaPP countries to review the possibility to follow the WB’s experience and prepare two roaming agreements: political (pre-agreement) and practical (RRA itself). The representative of the EC mentioned that the political agreement[5]shouldbe reached by the Ministerial Meeting and as a possible way be signedwithin the framework ofthis meeting at the Ministers level, if such suggestion is appropriate for the EaPP countries. If so, which text of pre-agreement should be put on the table for further discussions.

All EaPP countries expressed their opinions about such possibility and its appropriateness. In general, it was noted that a possibility ofsigning a political
pre-agreement beforeRRA is signed is appropriate. However, providedthe difficult internal approval procedures of high level political agreements, it will be impossible to sign such agreement before the Ministerial Meeting. Moreover, it’s too difficult to identify at this moment which text should be used for such agreement.

Summarizingthe discussions and taking into account that the Declaration should be adopted during the Ministerial Meeting, REWG Chair suggested to amend theDeclaration witha relevant statement or annex, that will demonstrate the willingness of all EaPP countries and their Ministers to welcome the results of the Study and the readiness to make all efforts for the implementation of Study results and recommendations and further cooperation on this matter among the EaPP countries.

All participants supported this suggestion and agreed to inform their Ministries about the Study, the necessity to join the Declaration and discuss the possibility of signing a pre-agreement. The results of such consultations should be presented by the EaPP countries at the next REWG meeting.

•Discussed the international cooperation between the REWG members regarding roaming regulation and the possibility to sign RRA, REWG Chair made a statement on Ukraine’s position regardingthe necessity for EaPP countries to block incoming/outgoing international trafficin public telecommunications networks originatingfromthe number indexes allocated by the Federal Communications Agency of the Russian Federationto the so-called Russian telecommunications operators in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, including in order to prevent the provision of international roaming to subscribers of the relevant Russian business entities.

Apart from the abovementioned, REWG Chair also asked REWG members to provide the relevant measures in their countries aimed at blocking the voice trafficoriginatingfrom public telecommunication networks located in the temporarily uncontrolled territory of Ukraine Donetsk and Luhansk regions following the establishment of illegal business entities that provide mobile telecommunication services. These illegal entities violate the legislation of Ukraineand provide services without any authorization and/or permits issued byNCCIR.The followingmobile networks identification codes are concerned:(NDC): “71” (+38071Х1Х2Х3Х4Х5Х6Х7) and “72” (+38072Х1Х2Х3Х4Х5Х6Х7), MCC+МNC: “255 99”.

Georgia supported Ukrainewith regard to the abovementioned issues and expressed readiness to provide the necessary explanations to Georgian operators, if NCCIR sends the relevant request to GNCC. Both parties will be able to discuss the further steps on blocking the illegal traffic from theterritory of Ukraine.

  1. The representatives of the EU Member States (Latvia and Lithuania)presented the experience of EU Roaming Regulation implementation in their countries. In particular:
  • “Implementation of EU Roaming Regulation in Lithuania” was presented by REWG Co-Chair;
  • “Implementation of Fair Use Policy in Latvia” was presented byMr. Juris Ķezberis (SPRK).
  1. Mr. Pavel Šubrt (CTU) shared adetailed description of the provisions of BEREC Guidelines on Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 and the main requirements on its implementation in the EU Member States with all participants.
  2. The participants discussed the organizational issues of further REWG activities. According to the approved REWG Action Plan for 2017, the participants agreed to organize the 3rd REWG Meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania. The date of the meeting will be defined by REWG members later as the work progresses.

The participants also discussed the possibility of creating an online forum for REWG members hosted on the EaPeReg web-site for a closer cooperation, the publication of REWG documents, online discussion and exchange of information between REWG members. Participants supported this initiative.

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