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Opinion No. 2008 - 0192 February 26, 2008 On The Draft Decree Establishing The Monthly Amount Of The Rate Reduction Telephone For Certain Categories Of Persons In Respect Of The Universal Service Of Electronic Communications For 2008...

Original Language Title: Avis n° 2008-0192 du 26 février 2008 sur le projet d'arrêté fixant pour l'année 2008 le montant mensuel de la réduction tarifaire téléphonique pour certaines catégories de personnes au titre du service universel des communications électroni...

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JORF no.0122 of 27 May 2008
text No. 73



Notice No. 2008-0192 of 26 February 2008 on the draft Order setting for 2008 the monthly amount of the telephone rate reduction for certain categories of persons under the Universal Electronic Communications Service

NOR: ARTE0800013V ELI: Not available


The Autorité de régulation des communications électronique et des postes,
Considering the post and electronic communications code, including articles L. 35-1, L. 35-3 and R. 20-34;
Vu la Act No. 2003-1365 of 31 December 2003 relating to public telecommunications service obligations and to France Télécom;
Vu la Act No. 2004-669 of 9 July 2004 relating to electronic communications and audiovisual communication services;
In view of the decision of 3 March 2005 appointing the operator responsible for providing the component of the universal service provided for in 1° of Article L. 35-1 of the Post and Electronic Communications Code (Telephone Service);
In view of the Order of 18 October 2006 of the Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry authorizing Erenis to provide its customers with the rate reduction set out in I of Article R. 20-34 of the Post and Electronic Communications Code;
In view of the letter from Erenis Company of 2 May 2007 informing the Minister of its renunciation, following the takeover of Erenis by Neuf Cegetel, of the offer of tariff social reduction for which it had received the authorization of the Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry of 18 October 2006;
Having regard to opinion No. 2000-531 of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority dated 9 June 2000 on the offer of social tariffs of France Télécom;
Considering the increase in France Télécom's main subscription rate, which took place on 4 July 2007, bringing the price of the main subscription from 12,54 euros to 13,38 euros excluding taxes;
Having regard to the request for advice of the Secretary of State for Business and External Trade sent on 29 January 2008;
After deliberating on 26 February 2008,



I. - Rate social reduction (called "social tariffs")
Universal Service


Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article R. 20-34 of the above-mentioned Post and Electronic Communications Code provide that:
"People who are entitled to the minimum income of insertion or receive the specific solidarity allowance or allowance for adults with disabilities and who have subscribed to the fixed telephone service to the operator who serves them, authorized under the conditions set out in III, shall, on their request, receive a reduction of their telephone bill [...].
Can also benefit from this same reduction, increased by 4 euros excluding taxes per month, the war invalids who accumulate the benefit of articles L. 16 and L. 18 of the Code of Military Disability Pensions and War Victims whose additional disabilities are estimated to be 10% for the calculation of the pension supplement provided for in article L. 16 of the Code, the blind persons who are beneficiaries of article L. 18 of the Code of Blind Resistance and the aforementioned beneficiaries »


Overview of the telephone service component
of the Universal Service


France Télécom, a provider designated by the Minister's Order of March 3, 2005 to offer until March 2009 the "phone service" component of the universal service, is required to propose to this date the rate social reduction referred to in the above-mentioned provisions.
In its response to the call for applications for the provision of this component of the universal service, France Télécom has committed itself to providing the recipients of the rate social reduction under the first paragraph of Article R. 20-34 with a stable social subscription rate of EUR 5.43 HT/month until March 2009, i.e. 41% of the "standard" subscription effective January 1, 2008, i.e. EUR 13.38 HT/month For recipients of the rate social reduction under the second paragraph of I of the same section, the monthly rate is EUR 1.43/month until March 2009, which represents 11% of the "standard" subscription amount effective January 1, 2008.
The commitment of France Télécom, in its response to the call for applications, to maintain the level of the social subscription rate makes it independent of the changes in the tariff of the standard subscription or of a potential change in the maximum level of financing of the social rate reduction, subject to this notice.
In 2008, given the amount of the subscription in force since July 2007, the operator's subscription reduction (respectively EUR 7.95/month for the beneficiaries under the first paragraph and EUR 11.95/month for the beneficiaries under the second paragraph) is partially offset by the "rate social reduction" that is set aside by the universal service fund, at the height of EUR 4.221/h for the beneficiaries under the second paragraph. The amount provided for in the draft Order of this "tariff social reduction" is the subject of this notice.
The number of eligible subscribers who wished to benefit from the rate social reduction, and for which compensation is actually paid by the universal service fund to the provider of the "telephone service" component, was 632,163 in December 2006, a decrease of almost 10% over a year.
The table below summarizes (in tax-free amounts) the evolution of France Télécom's social subscription rate proposed to beneficiaries under the first paragraph.



JUSQUAU
14 October 2000
14 OCTOBER 2000
20 July 2002
20 JULY 2002
3 March 2005
PART
of 3 March 2005
PART
4 July 2006
PART
4 July 2007

Amount of the "standard" subscription (in € HT/month).

9,86

10.49

10,87

11,70

12.54

13.38

Amount of social subscription for beneficiaries under the 1st paragraph (in € HT/month).

5.65

5.65

5.85

5.43

5.43

5.43

Ecart (in € HT/month).

4.21

4.84

5.02

6.27

7.11

7.95

Compensation by the universal service fund (rate social reduction, in € HT/month).

4.21

4.21

4.21

4.21

4.21

4.21

Share of the subscription discount supported by France Télécom (in € HT/month).

0.00

0.63

0.81

2,06

2.90

3.74


Other operators


In accordance with the provisions of the Post and Electronic Communications Code that allow other non-designated operators to offer a rate social reduction mechanism, the operator Erenis, who had proposed an offer authorized by Minister's Order of 18 October 2006, finally waived its offer.


II. - The position of the Authority


The Autorité notes that the difference expressed in EUR HT/month between the "standard" subscription amount and the amount of the social subscription for the beneficiaries under the 1st paragraph has steadily increased since 3 March 2005, the date of designation of France Télécom by the Minister as a provider of the telephone service component.
As a result, the increase in the share of the subscription reduction supported by France Télécom results simultaneously:
― maintaining the amount of the social subscription and the increase in the amount of the subscription that were already registered in the answer to the specifications of France Télécom;
― the stability of the rate social reduction (4,21 EUR HT/month) that corresponds to the compensation by the universal service fund of the fees exposed by the operator(s) concerned (see I. Other operators).
The current terms of reference expire in March 2009 and a new call for applications will be launched to allow the designation of one or more universal service providers for the telephone service beginning in March 2009 for a period of four years. In this context, the AMF wishes to draw attention to the importance, for the beneficiaries of the rate social reduction, that they be guaranteed a stability of the amount of the social subscription through the contribution of the universal service fund.
More generally, a broader reflection on the scope of offers covered by social tariffs would be worth engaging. It is not excluded that the logic of the social subscription can be extended to new offers, for example flat-rate broadband offers including access to the fixed network. This subject, relevant (nearly one quarter of fixed telephone subscriptions in 2007 correspond to such offers) but complex given the coupling of offers, was not examined by the Autorité. She did not receive a request in this sense.


III. - The monthly amount for 2008


Paragraph 3 of Article R. 20-34 of the above-mentioned Post and Electronic Communications Code states:
"The Minister responsible for electronic communications shall, on 1 November of each year for the following year by order, taken after notice of the Autorité de régulation des communications électronique et des postes, determine the monthly amount of the tariff reduction granted. »
In this context, the Authority has been seized for advice of a draft order setting the amount of the reduction for the year 2008.
The proposed Order fixes the maximum monthly amount of the telephone rate reduction granted for the year 2008, i.e. a maximum amount of compensation by the Fund, identical to that for the year 2007.
In view of the figures available on the number of certificates referred to the provider of the universal service offering a social tariff reduction by the entitled persons and the duration of the social subscription, the Autorité estimates the number of potential beneficiaries to, at most, 1 million for the year 2008.
As a result, the corresponding cost could rise to not more than 55 million euros, taking into account the management costs of the social organizations estimated at 1.5 million euros and the costs of the company that manages the device on behalf of the operators, estimated at 1.5 million euros, the whole which is entitled to compensation by the universal service fund. This cost represents 0.16% of the turnover of the telephone service communicated by the operators for the year 2005, the last year for which the final assessment is known, pending the final evaluation of the year 2006. It is therefore compatible with the limit of 0.8% of the turnover of the telephone service to the public, as set out in section R. 20-34-II, paragraph 2, of the postal code and electronic communications referred to above.
Given the analysis that has just been conducted, until the date of the designation of the universal service provider for the telephone service component (March 2009), the Authority has no reason to issue a reservation on the unchanged nature of the monthly amount of the proposed social reduction for the year 2008. As a result, it provides a favourable opinion on the draft Order setting the monthly amount of the telephone rate reduction for certain categories of persons under the universal electronic communications service for the year 2008. However, it considers it desirable that a comprehensive review of social tariffs be prepared on the occasion of the report on the universal service to be submitted by the Government to Parliament, prior to the call for applications.
This notice will be transmitted to the Minister of Economy, Finance and Employment and to the Secretary of State for Business and External Trade and published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.


Done in Paris, February 26, 2008.


The president,

P. Champsaur


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