The decrease that Anacom imposed on mobile termination rates, which were contested by TMN and Vodafone but welcomed by Optimus, will have an impact of 30 million euros in Portugal Telecom’s revenues in 2010.
The number was anticipated yesterday by Zeinal Bava, in a conference call with analysts, according to Jornal de Negócios. In the company’s EBITDA, the impact amounts to 15 million euros.
Anacom’s proposal, still under consultation, obliges operators to gradually reduce tariffs over the next 6 quarters, starting on 1 January with the cost dropping to 6 cents and reaching 3.5 cents on 1 April 2011, a 46% reduction in the amounts charged for calls made from other networks to mobile networks.
According to Anacom’s accounts, this reduction will allow savings of 53 million euros for consumers over the next 14 months, considering mobile-to-mobile and fixed-to-mobile calls.
As soon as the decision was made known, TMN and Vodafone contested what they considered to be a too abrupt and damaging decline in the interests of consumers and the national economy. Conversely, Optimus argued that interconnection charges should be even lower.
