Carrier preselection takes immediate effect

Decision of Telekom-Control Commission ends long-lasting dispute

Press release dated 9 March 2000

In the meeting of 7 March 2000, the Telekom-Control Commission instructed Telekom Austria AG as subscriber network operator to offer, with immediate effect, carrier preselection to the alternative network operators Tele2 Telecommunication Services GmbH, Colt Telecom Austria GmbH, Connect Austria Gesellschaft für Telekommunikation GmbH, max.mobil Tele-kommunikation Service GmbH and UTA Telekom AG. This decision of the Telekom-Control Commission puts the alternative network operators on an equal footing with TA as regards the dialling practice. The provision comprises calls to international subscriber numbers, calls to private networks, calls to mobile networks as well as the number range 05. The alternative network operators have to pay to TA the single fee of ATS 94.62 (exclusive of VAT) or € 6.88 (exclusive of VAT) per customer.

Benefit for operators and customers

To get access to the network of an alternative operator from the TA network, so far, the end customer has had to preselect a four-digit code (10xx). If the customer is registered with an alternative operator for preselection, he can now call the required subscriber directly without having to preselect the corresponding code. By dialling a short prefix, it is nevertheless still possible to deactivate carrier preselection for a specific call, which means that the option of selecting operators on a call-by-call basis continues to exist.

Currently, local calls are still subject to a temporary arrangement. Carrier preselection for local calls will be implemented in two stages: Until 31 December 2000, it is still required to preselect the local area code for calls within one's own local network via a different operator. This requirement will be abolished for local calls as of 1 January 2001.

"With this decision the Telekom-Control Commission took yet another step towards equal opportunity competition for all market players", says Dr. Heinrich Otruba, managing director of Telekom-Control GmbH, about the arrangement. "Moreover, TA is obliged to offer carrier preselection to all alternative operators under the same conditions. Thus, the service range of the alternative carriers becomes more attractive, from which the end customers will benefit."