The Posts and Telecommunications Department (PTD) has published the draft telecommunication tariff directive 2018 to provide more guidance to licensees on PTD’s requirements on tariffs setting and promotion activities with consumers

The draft Telecommunication Tariff Directive 2018, published by the transport ministry’s telecommunications department, is currently in public consultation process until June 30.

The Posts and Telecommunications Department (PTD) published the directive for telecom services, which, upon implementation, will provide more guidance to licensees on PTD’s requirements of tariffs setting and promotion activities with consumers.

According to law firm VDB Loi, the directive is intended for telecom services provided to individual and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) end users, which also includes consumer protection measures. It does not apply to wholesale services or individualised services to large enterprises. Licensees have a general transition period of 90 days to implement this directive once it comes into effect. 

Directive summary

The PTD developed in 2017 based on requests of industry stakeholders and approved by the ministry the 2017 Pricing and Tariff Regulatory Framework. In 2017, the department did not have sufficient costing data which would have supported the development of a more general tariff framework, and is hence currently developing in the context of 2018 Interconnection Rates Review a cost model which can partly provide necessary cost data usable in the context of retail Tariff regulation.

Already with issuing the 2017 Pricing and Tariff Regulatory Framework, the department announced its intention to review the framework on a timely basis. The 2017 framework was planned to be updated and evolved once costing data are available. 

“This [review] is required to address competition; harness transparency in tariff approval process; provide regulatory certainty in price regulation; complement growth by creating a level playing field; and, create a win-win situation for operators and subscribers. The framework is adopted as a medium-term plan [six to 12 months],” the 2017 framework stated.

The PTD prepared a comprehensive 2018 Draft Telecommunication Tariff Directive which is planned to replace the existing 2017 framework. 

The PTD now invites all stakeholders to submit their views on the questions and issues raised in the Public Discussion Report (PDR) initiating the replacement of the 2017 framework. The Department developed for this purpose the 2018 draft Telecommunication Tariff Directive, which provides a more holistic Tariff Framework including components which are missing in the current directive.

This PDR is the first of two public consultations. This PDR provides the proposal for the legal framework, while the subsequent public consultation will contain more details. Therefore, the public and industry stakeholders shall have twice the possibility to provide feedback on the 2018 Telecommunication Tariff Directive in the framework of public consultations, according to the draft directive.

Further details of the guidelines, the questions and issues available for comment and how to comment by the June-30 deadline can be found on Ministry of Transport and Communications’ website.

(The Myanmar Times: http://www.mmtimes.com/news/ptd-launches-consultation-draft-directive-tariffs-telecom-licensees.html )  

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