Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Capturing... the signal?



Portugal planned the shutdown of analogic TV so that its population could receive the four existing open signal channels from TDT. This process was delegated to ANACOM (www.anacom.pt), the communications regulator of Portugal. ANACOM's responsability was to plan and supervise the change so that continuity of service was smooth with an accessible price. Shutdown was planned for March 2009 but it was approved only by June 2010 and TDT signal was switched on in 2011. The process was a deception for consumers, specially in the interior of Portugal where income is lower. Many citizens complained of misinformation regarding the decoding boxes and signal availability. The responsible for the implementation of TDT network was Portugal Telecom, the former Portuguese state comunications monopoly. In October last year, Sergio Denicoli, a researcher from Universidade do Minho stated that there were "strong signs" of corruption in the implementation of TDT in Portugal and that the process was planed so that it would not work. Portugal Telecom stated that it would take Mr. Sergio to court which in the end didn't happen. Many citizens complained that some technicians responsible for the TDT installation assistance recommended them the installation of MEO, a Portugal Telecom service that offers a triple-play subscription that includes TV. Some other countries in Europe decided to add more channels to their TDT emissions so that open signal offer was diversified; this would not directly compete with services such as MEO but would offer diversity to citizens - this didn't happen in Portugal where the broadcasted channels are the ones as in analogic signal. This week, DECO, a consummers interest presented a complain in a nacional court as a consequence of the massive complains from consumers. The regulator (ANACOM) already stated that it has done everything it should have done (with Portugal Telecom) during the process and remembered that DECO was ANACOM's partner in the process of informing the population. Coming back to Mr. Sergio's research, what he was rising was the possibility of regulator's capture, a situation that occurs when a regulatory agency, created to act in the public interest, instead advances the commercial or special concerns of interest groups that dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating. This is an interesting case that we will follow in the next days. 

Portugal is a democracy since 1974. Regulation and Competition law in Portugal follows EU related roles and where cases are not solved by national authorities, complainers can turn to EU related institutions. 

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