On the market for central access, the following ex ante obligations have been imposed on A1 Telekom Austria AG by the Telekom Control Commission with its market analysis decision M 1.6/15-117 dated July 24, 2017):
- Obligation to grant access to the broadband bitstream (IP-based, on request ATM-based) to wholesale partners for making available broadband products to business customers;
- Obligation to grant access to a Layer2 Wholesale Product with regional traffic handover to the Wholesale Partner's Network (the Layer2 product must exhibit the same features of virtual unbundling with regional traffic handover as listed in the vULL Reference Offer of July 3, 2017;
- cost-free migration of existing unbundled POTS/ISDN access lines in case of a forced migration to a POTS/ISDN wholesale product with native POTS (analogue) or ISDN (TDM, DSS1 signal);
- Regional traffic handover at nine handover points and on request also at VIX2 or VIX3;
- National traffic handover at one of those nine handover points (as chosen by the Internet service provider requiring traffic handover) and on request also at VIX2 or VIX3;
- Connection from handover point to PoP of Wholesale Partner on request by a third party instead by A1 or self-supply of connection by using in-building wires in case of existing PoP of the Wholesale Partner at handover point;
- Establishment of separate price markers for certain intermediate profiles;
- joint handover of bitstream and vULL traffic via a common physical interface at the handover point on request;
- Modification of technical parameters of the Layer2 product at no charge once per year;
- Warranty that Wholesale Partners are not disadvantaged in case certain wholesale profiles are replaced by adequate substitute products;
- Negotiations in good faith with Wholesale Partners regarding multicast functonality for replication of TV bundles by IPTV and regarding new product features like e.g. geo redundancy for traffic handover;
- Price-control for bitstream products to be used for the realisation of business products: margin squeeze-free with charges limited to the amounts as listed in the Bitstream Reference Offer dated April 3, 2017;
- Price-control for Layer2 product: minimum gap (depending on bandwidths) between certain monthly retail charges (fixed Internet and fixed voice/fixed Internet) and wholesale charges;
- Obligation not to discriminate;
- Obligation to offer corresponding wholesale products when new retail products are launched;
- Obligation to publish Reference Offers regarding Bitstream products and Layer2 product ("virtual unbundling with regional handover")
- Advance notice vis-a-vis wholesale partners in case of temporary or permanent price modifications (four weeks), introduction of new bandwidths (eight weeks) and introduction of new product features exceeding the introduction of new bandwidths (twelve weeks);
- Non-binding advance notice with regard to release cycles and technical implementations as planned for the electronic interface;
- Quarterly publication of Key Performance Indicators regarding Reference Offer Products within 8 weeks;
- Separate accounting and a cost accounting system in order to prevent illicit cross-subsidization.
A1 Telekom Austria AG has to maintain the current Reference Bitstream Offer dated April 3, 2017 and has to publish and regularly update a reference offer on its website within 8 weeks from entry-into-force of the market analysis decision. A1 Telekom Austria AG has to inform all bitstreaming partners as well as the Telekom-Control-Kommission (rtr@rtr.at) by email of substantial modifications of this reference offer at the latest simultaneously with publication.
The Reference Bitstream Offer has to include the minimum content listed below:
- Clarification of the commencement and time-limit when the charge for the delivery of the services concerned falls due;
- Detailed technical description of the services offered including ancillary services and specifications for interfaces to be used for the provision of the services concerned;
- Provisions on order acceptance, contract duration, contract cancellation and amendments including modification of the service offered;
- Provisions on order, delivery and cancellation of services including time-limits;
- Provisions on start and termination of service delivery including time-limits indicated in days;
- Specifications for electronic interfaces in order to perform administrative processes including modalities for modification of those interfaces
- Provisions on quality assurance (SLAs) with regard to delivery times (connection/setup), availability and fault repair (fault management period, period until a service technician is available, maximum fault repair time) as well as complaint management;
- Penalty provisions providing that the penalty of 470€/1,700€ - depending from the SLA chosen - replacing all other penalties and payable in the case of order cancellation by subscriber due to late delivery will also fall due with the same amounts in case of cancellation by subscriber after an unadmissible transfer of subscriber data from the A1 wholesale division to the A1 retail division;
- Provisions regarding technology-neutral number portability as to the current extent;
- Provisions regarding migration and switching processes as to the current extent;
- Provisions regarding remote access of wholesale partners to a minimum set of parameters used for controlling standard modems used by A1 for its bitstream service (if available for the given modem).
A1 Telekom Austria AG has published its Reference Bitstream Offer here.
In addition to the Reference Bitstream Offer, A1 Telekom Austria AG has to publish a Reference Offer on its website with regard to the Layer2 product with regional traffic handover within 8 weeks from entry-into-force of the market analysis decision that exhibits all product features relevant for "vULL regional" listed in the Virtual Unbundlung Reference Offer dated July 3, 2017. The Reference Offer must cover all products according to Item 3.1.2 of the market analysis decision and must exhibit the minimum content according to Item 3.3.6 of the a.m. decision; it must be updated regularly. A1 Telekom Austria AG has to inform all virtual unbundling partners ("PVE") as well as the Telekom-Control-Kommission (rtr@rtr.at) by email of substantial modifications of this reference offer at the latest simultaneously with publication.
The Virtual Unbundling Reference Offer has to include the minimum content listed below:
- Detailed technical description of the virtual unbundling services offered based on FTTC/B/H including eDSLAM management bandwidths;
- Provisions on charges due for using virtual unbundling services offered based on FTTC/B/H including provisions on discounts;
- Provisions on the specification for the local availability of virtual unbundling;
- Provisions regarding options for the use of terminal equipment (modems) including provisions regarding a "modem white list" and minimum requirements for modems;
- Provisions on order, delivery and cancellation of services;
- Provisions on fault handling and fault repair;
- Provisions on the consumption of the services concerned;
- Provisions on quality assurance (SLAs) with regard to delivery times (connection/setup), availability and fault repair (fault management period, period until a service technician is available, maximum fault repair time) as well as complaint management;
- Specifications for electronic interfaces in order to perform administrative processes including modalities for modification of those interfaces and including penalties providing that a penalty falls due in case of non-availability of the electronic interface; for more than 12 hours; a partial penalty falls due if the interface drops out for more than 2 hours or if a malfunction of essential elements occurs;
- Provisions regarding manadatory and regular migration to virtual unbundling including number porting and including payment of migration expenses;
- Provisions regarding bulk migrations (e.g. migration of all subscribers of an alternative operator from bitstream to virtual unbundling in a given region) as a separate migration process;
- Process regarding the request for new active products or product features of virtual unbundling;
- Provisions in order to secure a seamless supply to the subscriber;
- Provisions regarding time-limits for the supply of information, of services, of fault-repair as well as penalties in case of non-compliance.
A1 Telekom Austria AG has published its Virtual Unbundling Reference Offer here.