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Order Of December 1, 2009, On The Designation Of The Operator Responsible For Providing The Universal Service Component Provided For In The 1 ° Of Article L. 35 - 1 Of The Code Of Post And Electronic Communications (Telephone Service)

Original Language Title: Arrêté du 1er décembre 2009 portant désignation de l'opérateur chargé de fournir la composante du service universel prévue au 1° de l'article L. 35-1 du code des postes et des communications électroniques (service téléphonique)

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JORF n°0288 of 12 December 2009 page 21505
text No. 51



Order dated 1 December 2009 appointing the operator responsible for providing the universal service component provided for in 1° of Article L. 35-1 of the Post and Electronic Communications Code (Telephone Service)

NOR: INDI0928051A ELI: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/eli/arrete/2009/12/1/INDI0928051A/jo/texte


The Minister to the Minister of Economy, Industry and Employment, responsible for industry,
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 with regard to electronic communications networks and services (the "universal service" directive);
Given the Post and Electronic Communications Code, including its Articles L. 35 to L. 35-8 and R. 20-30 to R. 20-44;
Vu le Consumer code ;
Considering the application file filed on 3 February 2009 by France Télécom;
Having regard to opinion No. 2009-0835 of the Autorité de régulation des communications électronique et des postes dated 13 October 2009;
In light of the opinion of the Commission Supérieur du Service Public des postes et des communications électronique dated 28 October 2009,
Stop it!

Article 1


France Télécom is designated, for a period of three years, to provide, under the conditions set out in the annexed Terms of Reference, the component of the universal service provided for in 1° of Article L. 35-1 of the Post and Electronic Communications Code.

Article 2


The present order will be issued in the Official Journal of the French Republic.

  • Annex



    A N N E X E


    CAHIER DES CHARGES DE LA SOCIÉTÉ FRANCE TÉLÉCOM CHARGÉE DE FOURNIR LA COMPOSANTE DU SERVICE UNIVERSEL DES COMMUNICATIONS ÉLECTRONIQUES PRÉVUE au 1° DE L. 35-1 DU


    CODE OF POSTS AND ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS


    In this notebook, the words: "the operator" refer to France Télécom.
    The books, titles, chapters and articles cited are, unless otherwise stated, those of the Post and Electronic Communications Code.


    Article 1
    Services provided


    1.1. Provision of the component of the universal electronic communications service under Article L. 35-1.
    The operator provides to any person who makes the request:
    a connection to a telephone network open to the public;
    ― a subscription offer entitled " Subscription to telephone service" to issue and receive telephone communications, fax communications and data communications at a sufficient rate to allow access to the Internet;
    – an offer of communications from and to the metropolis, overseas departments, communities of Saint-Martin, Saint-Barthélemy, Mayotte and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis-et-Futuna and French Southern and Antarctic Lands, as well as foreign countries.
    The operator continuously ensures the availability of the universal service offer described above on the entire territory of the metropolis, overseas departments and communities of Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, Mayotte and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, in accordance with the principles of equality, continuity and adaptability.
    The operator may, after agreement of the Minister responsible for electronic communications, entrust the supply or marketing of part of the universal service or mandatory services to one or more other companies. It concludes with them conventions that guarantee the maintenance of the obligations defined by the Post and Electronic Communications Code and the present terms of reference. The operator remains solely responsible for the fulfilment of these obligations.
    1.2. Provision of other services that do not result in the payment of the universal service fund.
    The operator shall, upon request, provide free of charge to subscribers of the area provided for in 1.1 with a detailed billing and the services listed below for the selective prohibition of outgoing calls proposed under the offer also provided for in 1.1:
    - prohibition of international calls;
    - prohibition of long distance calls;
    – banning national calls to mobile devices;
    – prohibition of appeals to the national numbering plan issues implementing mechanisms for the final recipient of the communication or partially paid by the final recipient.
    The operator ensures the free transmission and delivery of emergency telephone calls under the conditions specified in Article L. 33-1.
    The operator provides the following mandatory services throughout the territory mentioned in 1.1:
    - a leased link service offering transmission capabilities between network connection points, under the conditions set out in sections D. 369 and following; This service includes the following types of leased links:
    – leased to regular-quality vocal bandwidth (analog to 2 or 4 wires), leased to special-quality vocal bandwidth (analog to 2 or 4 wires);
    – digital lease to 2,048 kbits/s unstructured;
    – leased digital connection at 64 kbits/s.
    With respect to this type of leased connection, the operator may proceed, unless expressly refused by the customer within three months of the operator's notification, to the advance stop of the order and to the technical closure by 30 June 2010 and 31 December 2011.
    The operator undertakes to respect the standard deadlines by providing penalties for non-performance of recovery periods;
    – an offer of access to the digital network to service integration; the operator provides for this purpose an isolated basic access offer;
    – an offer of data switching per packet based on IP technology;
    ― an advanced service offering of voice telephony that includes the following services: keyboard numbering or DTMF (Voice frequency signaling), call line identification, direct selection to arrival, automatic call transfer.


    Article 2
    Measures for disabled users


    The operator provides users with disabilities with access to universal service services that are the subject of this Terms of Reference, within the limits of available technologies that can be implemented at a reasonable cost.
    The operator provides disabled subscribers with access to tariff information, contractual documents and billing through a means adapted to their disability.
    As such, the operator provides this information free of charge in broad characters or translated into Braille upon request of the blind or visually impaired subscriber. The shipping costs are borne by the operator regarding blind people.
    It also provides for deaf and hearing impaired people with a service to send and receive written messages from a fixed station and any other service equivalent to an affordable price.


    Article 3
    Quality of service


    The quality of service is measured against the indicators in Annex 1 for universal service and Annex 2 for mandatory services. Appendix 1 sets out the measurement modalities for these indicators and the minimum values for which they are to be met by the operator. It also indicates the information that must be provided by the operator to the public authorities and users.


    Article 4
    User relations


    4.1. User information.
    The operator shall inform users of its universal service offer, corresponding tariffs and any modifications, suspensions or removals under the conditions provided by the postal and electronic communications code and by the Consumer code.
    It regularly updates this information to the public in all its business agencies and points of contact with customers, as well as through a free and real-time electronic means.
    4.2. Changes in facilities and benefits provided.
    The terms and conditions applicable to these amendments are described in R. 20-30-9. They are:
    The operator can only change the material conditions for the use of one of the universal service services after the information of the users and the user organizations concerned and collect their possible comments. Conditions and deadlines for termination or modification are published at least six months in advance.
    When it comes to technical modifications resulting in significant replacements or adaptations of the connected installations to the network, the operator shall inform users at least eighteen months in advance. The operator informs users and user associations concerned and collects their comments.
    The draft amendments referred to in the preceding two paragraphs, their conditions of implementation and the deadlines for the compliance of the equipment are subject to prior approval by the Electronic Communications and Post Regulatory Authority. It may also, at the request of the operator, reduce the time limit set out in the preceding paragraph to a minimum of six months.
    Without prejudice to provisions of Article L. 121-84 of the Consumer Codeinformation relating to new offers under the universal service and changes in existing offers, other than tariffs or falling under the first two paragraphs of this chapter, shall be published by the operator within eight days of notice.
    The provisions of this chapter shall apply without prejudice to the obligations resulting from Article L. 33-1 and the technical requirements defined under Article L. 36-6.


    Article 5
    Billing


    In accordance with Article R. 20-30-10, where the operator directly or indirectly proposes a comprehensive service offering including a universal service offer and services not covered by the universal service, it separates, as part of the offer and billing, as well as in the contract with the user, which is, on the one hand, of the universal service and, on the other, of the other services.


    Article 6
    Rates


    6.1. Geographical equalization of rates and affordableness of rates.
    The designated operator provides a universal service offering at affordable and cost-oriented rates. The orientation of rates to costs is valued by delivery and not in a global way for the entire component provided for in 1° of section L. 35-1. This affordable and cost-oriented tariff obligation does not apply to mandatory services.
    The operator sets the rates for offers associated with the universal service component of this specifications in accordance with the principle of equality and in particular in order to avoid discrimination based on geographical location.
    In particular, prices of subscriptions are identical throughout the metropolitan area and overseas departments. Specific tariffs may, however, be applied in Guyana, Saint-Martin, Saint-Barthélemy, Mayotte and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon to take into account the specific situation of these territories.
    This principle of non-discrimination based on geographical location does not exclude that the operator provides, apart from the universal service, commercial provisions adapted to different categories of customers based on objective and transparent pricing criteria based on the distance of the call for communications. Such fees are then not the subject of compensation for the universal service fund.
    The operator also provides its price catalogue with the conditions under which the connections of certain subscribers are made in the event of exceptional difficulties and the corresponding tariffs, without prejudice to the prerogatives of ARCEP with respect to tariff control.
    The operator offers one or more reduced rates for communications from or to overseas departments, communities of Saint-Martin, Saint-Barthélemy, Mayotte and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, as well as to New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis-et-Futuna and Southern and Antarctic Lands.
    The operator's tariffs include one or more reduced rates for communications to countries within the territory of the European Union at low-demand times.
    6.2. Consumer tariff information.
    The operator establishes a price catalogue for telephone service and mandatory services. This catalogue is freely available in the company's business agencies and points of contact with customers and is available free of charge by an electronic means. The operator ensures that disabled users have access to this catalogue in conditions appropriate to their disability.
    6.3. Modalities for the evolution of universal service rates.
    The tariffs of the universal service component subject to this Terms of Reference and their developments, including those resulting from changes in the contractual conditions of the universal service offer, are controlled under the conditions set out in Article L. 35-2.
    The multi-year supervision of the universal service rates referred to in sections L. 35-2 and R. 20-30-11 takes into account the general price changes, the level of the operator's costs in accordance with the principle of efficiency and the evolution of the external interconnection and access charges. It is based on a Laspeyres index.
    Without prejudice to these tariff control provisions, the operator shall communicate the changes in its tariffs for the universal service to the Minister for Electronic Communications and the Electronic Communications and Post Control Authority, eight days before they are notified to consumers and users.
    6.4. Special measures for certain categories of persons.
    The operator sets up a specific tariff device for persons with low incomes under the conditions set out in R. 20-34.
    The operator also maintains, for one year, in the event of default of payment, a restricted service that includes the possibility of receiving calls as well as the provision of telephone calls to free services or emergency services for the benefit of the debtor seized under the Act No. 91-650 of 9 July 1991 reforming civil enforcement and debtor procedures that are subject to measures under Articles L. 330-1 and following of the Consumer Code.


    Article 7
    Accounting and finance


    In accordance with section R. 20-32, the operator maintains an information system as well as an accounting of services and activities that, in particular, allow to assess the net cost of the obligation to provide the component of the universal service subject to this Terms of Reference 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, in order to allow an annual update of the elements and data required for the application of Chapter III, section 2, of Title I, of Book II. Auditors must be independent of the operator and its auditors. The audit findings are made public by the Electronic Communications and Post Regulatory Authority.
    The universal service fund shall provide, under the conditions set out in Articles L. 35-3 and R. 20-31 to R. 20-44, the financing of the net cost of the obligation to provide the universal service component of this terms of reference.


    Article 8
    Relations with administration


    The operator shall annually transmit to the Minister responsible for electronic communications and to the Authority for the regulation of electronic communications and posts a report on the implementation of the obligations set out in this Terms of Reference. This report includes an assessment of the implementation of Articles 1 and 2 of this Terms of Reference, the results of the measures of quality of service indicators referred to in Article 3 and the annexes to the same terms of reference, the statistics of use and an evaluation of the average price per minute of communications by type of communication. The report for the year is not submitted by March 31 of the year n + 1.


    Article 9
    Duration of designation


    Without prejudice to Article L. 35-8, the operator is designated to provide the universal service services subject to this specifications for a period of three years.


    A N N E X E I
    QUALITY OF UNIVERSAL SERVICE PRESTATIONS


    1. Definition and calculation of indicators measuring service quality.
    The indicators defined below shall be measured at the regional and national levels.
    1.1. Delivery time for initial network connection.
    (a) Until June 30, 2010:
    The indicator is defined as the average time expressed in calendar days between the order's filing date and the commissioning date calculated on the production of the main lines (LP).
    Are excluded:
    – the main line constructions for the market operators namely ADSL Nu, wholesale and total unbundling offers;
    – the main line constructions for retail ADSL offers and for operator self-consumption;
    - the connections performed beyond the contract period of 8 days at the customer's request.
    (b) From 30 June 2010 at the latest:
    This indicator is assessed on the basis of 50%, 95% and 99% of the completed requests as soon as possible (first calculation in accordance with paragraph 5-1-3 of ETSI EG 202 057-1) and the percentage of customer engagement applications. If the percentage of requests delivered within the time limit is less than 80%, the average number of days for late requests than the customer engagement must be provided (second calculation in accordance with paragraph 5-1-3 (b) of the above standard). The first calculation excludes cases where the user requested a delivery date after the maximum period imposed on the provider. Both calculations are excluded where the user did not provide access to the installer at the scheduled date and time.
    1.2. Connection failure rate.
    (a) Until June 30, 2010:
    The operator measures the rate of breakdown signals that occurred: within 30 days of commissioning and which resulted in an intervention, on the one hand, beyond those 30 days, on the other. The rate is equal to the ratio of:
    - the number of breakdown signals processed in a reporting period;
    – the number of relevant lines at the end of the month preceding this period.
    (b) From 30 June 2010 at the latest:
    The indicator is evaluated on the basis of the connection failure rate corresponding to the number of in-service failures reported to this number of lines in accordance with paragraph 5-4-3 of ETSI EG 202 057-1.
    1.3. Time to repair a telephone failure.
    (a) Until June 30, 2010:
    It is assessed on the basis of the rate of non-compliance with the contractual period of processing of an analog failure signal. The rate is equal to the ratio of:
    ― the number of technician interventions following such signalling by a customer, set out in the reporting period and whose recovery of the service has occurred beyond the expected contractual period, calculated on a working day from the date and time of signage;
    – the number of such interventions over the reporting period.
    The operator takes into account all the signals that gave rise to an intervention, regardless of the medium concerned, for the following reasons: lack of tone, poor hearing, lack of receipt of calls.
    (b) From 30 June 2010 at the latest:
    The indicator is assessed on the basis of 80%, 85% and 95% of subscribers' inconveniences as quickly as possible and the recovery of service within and beyond the contractual period (paragraph 5-5-3 of ETSI EG 202 057-1). Cases where the user does not provide access to the facilities within the provider's time limit to perform the intervention are excluded.
    1.4. Call failure rate.
    (a) Until June 30, 2010:
    The call failure rate is the technical inefficiency rate of calls from the subscriber's position to a geographic number.
    It is equal to the ratio between the number of attempts to call subscribers to the operator's fixed telephony, transported by the operator, to a subscriber to the operator's fixed telephony and could not have resulted from the network and the total number of calls to the exclusion of ineffective calls due to a fault of the applicant, of the request, for occupation or non-response.
    (b) From 30 June 2010 at the latest:
    The indicator is defined as the technical inefficiency rate of the switched telephone network for national departure calls, on the one hand, and for international calls, on the other hand (according to paragraph 5-1-3 of ETSI EG 202 057-2).
    1.5. Duration of communication.
    (a) Until June 30, 2010:
    The duration of the communication corresponds to the delay after the numbering of the calls transported from subscribers to the operator's fixed telephone network to the operator's fixed telephone subscribers.
    (b) After 30 June 2010:
    The indicator corresponds to the average time interval between the time when the numbering information required for the delivery of the call is received by the network and the time the subscriber receives the ringing tone or the occupancy signal (according to paragraph 5-2-3 of ETSI EG 202 057-2).
    1.6. Accuracy of the invoice.
    The indicator is assessed on the basis of the invoice claim rate in accordance with the ETSI EG 202 057-1 5-11 standard.
    1.7. Response times to user claims.
    This indicator is assessed on the basis of 80 per cent and 95 per cent of the fastest processed claims in accordance with paragraph 5-10-3 of ETSI EG 202-057-1. It is calculated by June 30, 2010 according to the evaluation methods provided by the operator.
    1.8. Claims rate per user.
    This indicator corresponds to the number of complaints registered by user for the reporting period. It is calculated before June 30, 2010 according to the evaluation methods provided by the operator.
    1.9. Claim response times on invoice.
    This indicator is measured on the same basis as the indicator in 1.7.
    These two indicators will be calculated by June 30, 2010, according to the assessment methods provided by the designated operator.
    2. Operator commitments on the indicators described in 1.
    The operator undertakes to respect the following minimum values for the duration of its designation.


    Initial connection time
    8 calendar days based on 95% of completed requests

    Connection failure rate

    7.5 per cent

    Time to repair a telephone failure

    85% of subscribers' inconveniences identified under the terms of ETSI EG 202-057-1 as applied on the date of entry into force of the operator's designation order and this specifications notebook

    Call failure rate

    0.7 per cent for national calls

    Duration of communication

    2.9 seconds for national calls

    Accuracy of invoice

    0.08%

    Response time to user claims

    80% of claims within a maximum of 5 days


    95% of claims within 15 days

    Claims by user

    Less than 7%

    Claims response time on invoice

    80% of claims within a maximum of 5 days


    95% of claims within 15 days


    3. Modalities for dissemination of results.
    3.1. Communication to the public authorities.
    The operator shall communicate to the Electronic Communications and Post Regulatory Authority and to the Minister responsible for electronic communications the quarterly and annual values of the indicators provided for in 1. The results are both regional and national.
    For quarterly measures, the communication must intervene no later than the end of the month following the fallen quarter.
    For annual measurements, a year's performance communication shall not take place by March 31 of year n + 1.
    The operator must also communicate:
    – a quarterly statement of work it is implementing to adopt the methods of calculating quality indicators that must be implemented by June 30, 2010;
    – a detailed quarterly statement, both at the national and regional levels, of the most extreme situations in terms of delivery of connections and repairs; This state, in particular, shows, for each region and for the entire territory, the number of connections made or pending more than 30 days after the application and the number of failures not repaired within 15 days of their signalling; this condition must be transmitted by the end of the month following the fallen quarter;
    at the request of the Minister for Electronic Communications or the Electronic Communications and Post Control Authority:
    the data used to calculate the indicators; the operator keeps this data for 15 slippery months;
    ― in the event of non-compliance with minimum obligations, or degradation of the results achieved, details of the causes of non-compliance or degradation and the measures decided to remedy them.
    3.2. Publication of results.
    The definitions, annual values of national indicators and the methods of calculation used are published by the operator on its website, for a year n, by March 31 of year n + 1 with for each of the indicators the values of its minimum obligations.
    3.3. Consumer provisions.
    The order dated 16 March 2006 specifies the information to be included in the contracts. This information includes the level of service quality and compensation due if this level is not achieved.
    The operator specifies, for the indicators cited in 1.1 and 1.3 of this annex, in the contracts for universal service services described in Article 1 of this Terms of Reference, its commitments in terms of quality of service. The operator undertakes to pay compensation in the event of non-compliance with its commitments. The amount of this compensation is included in the relevant contracts.


    A N N E X E I
    QUALITY OF OBLIGATIONAL SERVICES


    Indicators for leased links:
    ― guaranteed recovery time: less than 10 working hours and optional to users, 4 hours 24 hours a day, 7 days a week;
    – maximum non-availability of service (annual) only applicable to digital leased links: 20 hours with option offered to users 13 business hours;
    – the standard delivery time of analog lines: not more than 45 days.


Done in Paris, December 1, 2009.


Christian Estrosi


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