Key Benefits:
The Autorité de régulation des communications électronique et des postes,
Having regard to Directive 2002 / 19 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on access to electronic communications networks and associated resources, as well as their interconnection (directive "access"), including its consideration 21 and article 13-4;
Having regard to Directive 2002 / 22 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on universal service and user rights in relation to electronic communications networks and services ("Universal Service Directive"), including Article 17-4;
Given the Post and Electronic Communications Code, including its articles L. 35-3, L. 38-1, R. 20-31 to R. 20-39, and D. 312 ;
Having regard to the decrees of 3 March 2005 appointing the operator responsible for providing the component of the universal service provided for respectively in the 1st of Article L. 35-1 of the postal and electronic communications code for the telephone service and at the 3rd of Article L. 35-1 of the postal and electronic communications code for the telephone service;
See?arrested on 29 March 2007 appointing the operator responsible for providing the component of the universal service provided for in 2° of Article L. 35-1 of the Post and Electronic Communications Code for the universal directory and universal intelligence service;
Considering Decision No. 99-0780 of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority dated 30 September 1999, specifying and publishing the accounting imputation rules for the costs and revenues required for the calculations provided for in II and III of Article R. 20-33 of the Post and Telecommunications Code relating to the net cost of the obligations of geographical equalization;
Having regard to Decision No. 2006-1007 of the Autorité de régulation des communications électronique et des postes dated 7 December 2006 on the obligations of accounting for costs and accounting separation imposed on France Télécom;
Having regard to Decision No. 2008-01135 of the Autorité de régulation des communications électronique et des postes dated 9 October 2008 designateing the agency responsible for carrying out the audit of the relevant elements of the information system and accounting data of the years 2007 and 2008 of France Télécom;
Having regard to Decision No. 2008-01258 of the Electronic Communications and Post Regulatory Authority dated 20 November 2008 on the determination of the final value of the capital pay rate for the calculation of the final net cost of the universal service for the year 2007 provided for in Article R. 20-37 of the Post and Electronic Communications Code;
After deliberating on 12 March 2009,
I. ― Context
Article L. 35-3-I provides that: " (...) Net costs attributable to universal service obligations are assessed on the basis of appropriate accounting maintained by designated operators to ensure these obligations and audited, at their own cost, by an independent agency designated by the Electronic Communications and Post Regulatory Authority (...)".
Section R. 20-32 of the Post and Electronic Communications Code states:
"Every operator responsible for a universal service obligation under section L. 35-2 shall maintain a system of information as well as an accounting of services and activities that shall, in particular, enable to assess the net cost of this obligation and to verify compliance with the principle of tariff orientation to costs.
Relevant elements of the information system and accounting data are available to the Electronic Communications Regulatory Authority and posts at the request of the Electronic Communications Regulatory Authority. They are audited periodically at the operator's expense by an independent agency designated by the Electronic Communications and Post Control Authority to allow an annual update of the elements and data required for the application of this section. Auditors must be independent of the operator and its auditors. The audit findings are made public by the Electronic Communications and Post Regulatory Authority. »
Pursuant to these provisions, France Télécom, designated by the Minister on March 3, 2005 and March 29, 2007 as the provider of the components of the universal service, provided the Authority with the necessary information regarding its costs, including those of the universal service.
In order to conduct the audit by an independent agency of this information, the Authority has drafted a specification which was forwarded to the various candidate firms and has designated the audit firm as a result of a call for tenders.
The audit was thus entrusted to the firm Mazars ' Guérard, by the decision of the Authority No. 2008-1135 and was carried out between November and December 2008.
II. - Method
The audit focused on:
― the completeness of the 2007 TCP system of cost calculations, used to produce the operating accounts per product entering the calculation of the final net cost of the universal service for the year 2007, grouped according to the terms agreed between France Télécom and the Autorité de régulation des communications électronique et des postes;
the relevance of the cost allocation rules used;
― encrypted data and rules for the development of product operating accounts for the year 2007.
The audit resulted in the drafting of the compliance certificate, attached as an annex. It was drafted by the auditors for the year 2007 with respect to the specifications and description established by the Authority and in accordance with the rules it produces under section R. 20-33, paragraph III, and the provisions of sections R. 20-34, R. 20-35 and R. 20-36 of the Post and Electronic Communications Code.
III. ― Deliverance and publication of the compliance certificate
As a result, pursuant to the accounting provisions and financing articles in the Orders of March 3, 2005 and March 29, 2007 appointing the operator responsible for providing the components of the universal service (telephone service, publishing, universal directory and universal intelligence service), the Autorité publishes the certificate of compliance of the 2007 costs in the operating accounts per product of the universal service established by France Télécom as part of its regulatory obligations. This certificate was issued on 19 December 2008.
Decides:
The 2007 cost compliance attestation in the operating accounts per product of the net cost of the universal service, established by France Télécom as part of its regulatory obligations, is published in the Appendix.
The Director General of the Autorité is responsible for the application of this decision, which will be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
A N N E X E
ATTESTATION OF COST CONFORMITY 2007 IN ACCORDANCE WITH NET COST RECORD OF THE UNIVERSAL SERVICE ESTABLISHED BY FRANCE TELECOM IN THE FRAMEWORK OF REGULATIONS
In our capacity as an independent auditor and in the execution of the mission entrusted to us jointly by the Autorité de régulation des communications électronique et des postes (ARCEP) and France Télécom as part of the audit of the 2007 regulatory accounts of France Télécom, we hereby present our certificate of conformity on the operating accounts per product (CEP marks) entering the net cost of the universal service for the year 2007.
These accounts include all of the following documents, namely the operating accounts of the products entering into the calculation of the final net cost of the universal service for the year 2007, grouped according to the terms agreed between France Télécom and the Autorité de régulation des communications électronique et des postes, and annexed to the certificate issued to ARCEP.
The operating accounts per product in the calculation of the final net cost of the universal service for the year 2007 were established under the responsibility of France Télécom, in accordance with the accounting principles and methods mentioned in the various legislative and regulatory texts cited in Decisions No. 2006-1007 and No. 2008-0181 of ARCEP and within these decisions themselves.
It is our responsibility, on the basis of our audit, to express a conclusion on the compliance of these accounts with this repository.
I. ― Nature and scope of work
The accounts produced by France Télécom as part of its regulatory obligations are established by a computerized model, powered by France Télécom's analytical accounting data, which is fully integrated into the operator's individual general accounting.
The individual accounts of France Télécom for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007, based on the above-mentioned general accounting, were audited by the operator's auditors and were certified without reservation or observation.
In this context, we conducted our audit according to the professional standards applicable in France. We have implemented the diligence we have considered necessary to obtain reasonable assurance that the operating accounts per product, entering the net cost of the universal service for the year 2007, do not have significant deficiencies.
These diligences were to review, by polls, the evidence supporting the data contained in these accounts. They also assessed the accounting principles followed and significant estimates for the preparation of these accounts and their overall presentation.
Our controls have focused on:
― the completeness of the 2007 TCP system of cost calculations used to produce operating accounts per product for the year 2007;
the relevance of the cost allocation rules used;
― encrypted data and rules for the development of product operating accounts for the year 2007.
They included:
― appraise the reasonableness, economic justification and compliance, in relation to the requirements of the various legislative and regulatory texts cited in ARCEP Decisions No. 2006-1007 and No. 2008-0181 and within those decisions themselves, of the distribution options on the products and services of the pre-identified expenses in accounting, as well as the reprocessing of the general accounts of France Télécom;
― provide us with a survey of the conformity of the cost calculation system with the specifications mentioned in these texts.
The purpose of the evaluation was not to assess the internal control of the specific information system, i.e., the evaluation of the controls on the preparation and capture of data, the processing, integrity, accuracy and authorization of the transactions to be recorded, the maintenance of the revision path (or reference system), the quality of the documentation and, finally, the changes made from one fiscal year to the other in the programs, in particular,
We believe that our audit is a reasonable basis for our conclusion.
II. ― Compliance assessment
operating accounts by product
On the basis of our work, we conclude that:
― the full cost of the TCP system for calculating cost of return used to establish operating accounts per product of the net cost of universal service for the year 2007, as well as compliance with functional documentation, are assured;
– the costs in the operating accounts per product related to the determination of the final net cost of the universal service for the year 2007 have been established in accordance with the specifications of ARCEP.
III. - Observations
Without questioning the above conclusions, we draw your attention to the following points:
― the mesh of the analysis is simplified in a relevant way upstream of the model. However, the number of parameters managed remains very important: analyses could be carried out to identify effectively discriminating parameters, in order to integrate an analysis of the sensitivity and limitations inherent in the model assumptions into the control process;
― the reference studies used to determine the factors for use of the model could be updated regularly, depending on a frequency to be specified a priori, depending on the nature of the information, their obsolescence and the significant nature of these studies in relation to the model.
In this regard, it should be noted that a number of studies have been updated recently.
Done in Paris-La Défense, December 19, 2008.
Mazars ' Guérard,
J.-L. Barlet
Done in Paris, March 12, 2009.
The president,
J.-C. Mallet
