Authorisation and Licensing
Monitoring and Enforcement of Licence Conditions
As well as defining the basic principles by which the telecommunications sector is to be regulated, legislation must determine how these provisions will be applied. In addition to defining the basic responsibilities of the Minister and regulator, the Telecommunications Law should describe the powers of the regulator to monitor and investigate the activities of market players and, where necessary, to apply and enforce sanctions against those deemed to be infringing either the terms of their licence or of the Law itself.
In order to support such monitoring, the Law should also provide for the statutory reporting of information by operators to the regulator, and for the legal right of the regulator and its designated representatives to enter premises, require information or obtain documents, subject to appropriate confidentiality restrictions.
In case of infringement, the Telecommunications Law should provide for a suitable system of enforcement. Ideally, this should favour the issuance of a formal notice requiring full compliance within a specified period, or the use of arbitration to reach an amicable settlement, but should permit the regulator to apply a range of more stringent sanctions in cases where compliance requests have proved ineffective, or for particularly serious offences.
These may range from the modification or restriction of the licence conditions through suspension or revocation of the licence, the imposition of financial penalties, or even criminal prosecution. As a necessary balance, provision should also be made for an appropriate dispute resolution mechanism and, if necessary, means of appeal to the Minister or other adjudicator in cases where it is claimed that the regulator’s decision is unjust.
InterConnect Communications can advise governments and regulators on the most appropriate ways to ensure compliance with general legal requirements, specific licence conditions, detailed obligations relating to areas such as use of radio frequency spectrum resources, quality of service standards, and matters pertaining to customer service issues such as billing complaints and allegations of ‘slamming’.
We can help determine what monitoring and investigatory powers should be accorded to regulators, and the statutory reporting obligations to be applied to operators. We can draft detailed procedures to govern the conduct of monitoring and investigatory activities by regulators, and suggest proportionate but effective remedial measures and sanctions regimes for cases where non-compliance is found.
Our experience includes:
- Advising a South Asian government on surveying and monitoring procedures to ensure operator compliance with Universal Service Fund obligations;
- Developing operational procedures for radio spectrum monitoring in Eastern Europe;
- Reviewing proposed sanctions for breach of roll-out obligations against international benchmarks for a West African regulator.