Vodafone 2015 Annual Report Download - page 198

In April 2015, AGCOM closed its public consultation for the wholesale
access market. The analysis compares the current approach
of imposing on Telecom Italia the same obligations on all national
market participants with the alternative of imposing geographically
differentiated obligations on them. The nal decision and adoption
is expected to be completed by July 2016.
For information on litigation in Italy, see note 30 “Contingent liabilities”
to the consolidated nancial statements.
United Kingdom
In August 2014 and again in February 2015, the national regulator
Ofcom published consultations on revising the annual licence fees
payable on licences for the use of spectrum in the 900MHz and
1800MHz bands, to reect full market value following the completion
of the 4G auction.
In March 2015, Ofcom published a statement setting MTRs for the three
year period from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2018. The MTR is forecast
to decline over the three year period from its current level of £0.845
pence per minute to £0.507 pence per minute and will be adjusted
in line with the retail price index.
Spain
The nes applied to Telefónica, Orange and Vodafone Spain
in December 2012 for abuse of dominant position by imposing excessive
pricing of wholesale SMS/MMS services on MVNOs, remain suspended
until the judicial review is concluded.
In April 2014, Vodafone Spain was permitted to withdraw its €160 million
security deposit after fullling all of its obligations in the roll out
of 900MHz spectrum.
In June 2014, Vodafone Spain presented a complementary writ
to the competition authority, the National Markets and Competition
Commission (‘CNMC’), that cited Telefónica’s abuse of its dominant
position in both its bre roll-out and bre retail offers. The writ
is in relation to Telefónica offering a TV service at no cost when
upgrading its customers to bre.
In July 2014, the acquisition of Ono (the main cable operator in Spain)
was successfully completed after it was cleared without conditions
by the European Commission under the EU merger regulation.
In September 2014, further to Vodafone Spain’s competition complaint
against Telefónica and Yoigo for the unauthorised transfer of use
of Yoigo’s spectrum by Telefónica and to other restrictive effects in the
market, the CNMC’s Statement of Objections found that the agreement
between Yoigo and Telefónica contained anticompetitive components.
This view was conrmed in its Proposal for Resolution presented to the
Council in December 2014 .
In May 2015, Telefónica completed its acquisition of Canal+ España
following approval by CNMC. As a condition of the deal, Telefónica must
make available a wholesale offering of up to 50% of its own premium
content channels to Vodafone Spain and other Pay-TV operators
in Spain.
Netherlands
The Dutch government is planning a renewal of the existing 2.1GHz
licences that will expire by the end of 2016. The renewal for a period
of four years (2017–2020), could potentially allow for a simultaneous
auction with the 700 MHz band. The fees to be paid for the renewal have
not been announced but are likely to be based in part on the fees paid
in the 2012 multi-band auction.
The national regulator, the Authority for Consumers and Markets (‘ACM’)
followed the Commission’s recommendation that as of September
2013, the termination rates should be based on the “pure Bottom
Up Long Run Incremental Cost” (‘BULRIC’) methodology. This resulted
in maximum MTRs of 1.019 eurocents per minute. In August 2014,
the Court of Appeal (CBb) annulled ACM’s decision and imposed the
current tariffs based on ‘pure BULRIC’ of 1.861 eurocents per minute for
mobile, as an interim measure during the ongoing appeal procedure.
In October 2014, the CBb decided to refer the case to the European
Court of Justice (ECJ) regarding the legal status of the recommendation
to use ‘pure BULRIC’. The CBb will be able to issue its nal decision
once it has received the ruling of the ECJ, which is not expected before
December 2015.
Ireland
In December 2012, Vodafone Ireland judicially challenged the decision
of the national regulator, the Commission for Communications
Regulation (‘ComReg’), to impose an interim MTR based on a Body
of European Regulations for Electronic Communications (‘BEREC’)
benchmark rather than a MTR based on a full cost model. In August
2013, the Irish High Court found the decision to be unlawful
and by Court order, set a maximum MTR for the Irish market
of 2.60eurocents per minute, to apply from 1 July 2013. This rate will
apply until a MTR based on a fully modelled price is available which
is expected sometime in 2015. ComReg has appealed the Irish High
Court’s decision, to the Irish Supreme Court.
In May 2014, the Commission cleared Hutchison 3G Limited’s acquisition
of Telefónica O2 Ireland subject to conditions. Vodafone Ireland has
requested that ComReg ensures that the allocation of spectrum
following the merger is efcient and non-discriminatory. ComReg has
declined to take any positive steps (such as a market review) to satisfy
itself that there is efciency in the market now that the 2012 auction
caps have been exceeded. Vodafone Ireland is now seeking a court
order by way of judicial review proceedings, to require ComReg
to act in accordance with its statutory powers (on the basis that
it is unreasonable for them not to do so), to ensure that the new
spectrum allocations are efcient and non-discriminatory.
In October 2014, the Commission unconditionally cleared Vodafone
Ireland’s open access joint venture agreement with the Electricity
Supply Board to roll out bre to the building (‘FTTB’) nationwide, with the
rst phase expected to be completed by the end of 2018.
Portugal
In November 2014, the Portuguese Competition Authority dismissed
Optimus’s complaint against TMN and Vodafone Portugal of a potential
individual dominant position abuse on the mobile communications
services retail markets.
In July 2014, Vodafone Portugal and Portugal Telecom announced
an agreement to deploy and share bre networks reaching 900,000
homes in Portugal. The agreement commences in December 2014,
and runs for 25 years. Both Vodafone Portugal and Portugal Telecom
will maintain complete autonomy and exibility in designing their
respective retail offers under the agreement.
In April 2015, the National Communications Regulator (‘Anacom’)
published its draft decision on MTRs. It proposes a glide path with
a maximum of 0.83 eurocents after publication, falling to 0.73 eurocents
by July 2017.
Romania
In June 2013, a cross-border spectrum coordination agreement with
Ukraine was signed ensuring interference free use of the E-GSM
900MHz band at the border. Although the agreement entered into
force on 1 January 2014, there is still E-GSM spectrum interference
on Vodafone Romania’s network, especially on the south-east side
of the country.
Vodafone Group Plc
Annual Report 2015
196
Regulation (continued)
Unaudited information