Newsletter
CROSS-SECTOR TELECOMS OPERATIONS TO BE REGU-LATED
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) intends to draft principles for the regulation of cross-sector activities in the telecoms market after the Min-istry of Transportation and Communications lib-eralizes fixed network business.
The FTC recently completed policy studies for the regulation of the "4C" industries i.e., tele-communications, cable, computer networks and e-commerce, and will begin drafting related regulatory rules. The FTC states that the legal basis for regulation of the telecoms industry is the Fair Trade Law (FTL) and the Telecommu-nications Law (TL). The regulatory principles will be based on the following provisions: FTL Article 10 which prohibits abuse of market status by monopolistic enterprises; FTL Article 11 which governs business combinations (i.e. mergers and acquisitions); FTL Article 14 which governs concerted actions; FTL Article 19 which prohibits unfair competition; FTL Article 24 which prohibits unfair conducts detrimental to the trading order; and the provisions of the TL prohibiting refusal to disclose the computation basis of network interconnection charges, im-proper setting of charging rates for telecoms services, and improper refusal of other enter-prises' requests to lease network elements or circuits, enter into negotiations or conduct tests.
The FTC will also draft provisions requiring accounting separation and prohibiting cross- subsidy, improper use of market status to inhibit other enterprises' participation in competition, unequal treatment, and improper determination of charging rates for telecoms services.