Bill seeks extensive revision of communications sector

Communications Minister Austin Gatt yesterday introduced a Bill which, he said, would bring forward needed extensive revision because of substantial developments in the technological communications sector.

Piloting the Communications Laws (Amendment) Bill, Dr Gatt said that was particularly so with each operator now providing service across the board rather than particular specialities.

One characteristic of the sector was short-lived legislation and regulation if one wanted to stay modern and competitive with other markets. Legislation had to be technology-neutral because the sector was too fast-moving to regulate by legislation.

Going over various changes to Maltese legislation since 2002 and after Malta’s accession to the EU, Dr Gatt said the changes in the Bill primarily brought in the concept of general authorisation instead of specific licences.

It was gratifying that the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (Berec), which had started working actively since January, had shown it was not just another EU body imposing regulations on member states. Malta could still keep its principles of subsidiarity.

Malta and the rest of Europe needed to update themselves to continue to face technological changes. The administrative changes being proposed in the Bill included principles of a general nature, following which regulation would be implemented on principles approved by Parliament.

Radio frequency changes were very important and had been the subject of long debate in the EU. That debate had consistently insisted on neutrality of technology and service, which meant that an operator was not constrained to take up any particular technology but was free to employ its own choice.

The right to use particular frequencies could be transferred so long as they left no negative impact on the competition. All such transfers were to be notified to the regulator.

National regulators would be obliged to analyse markets and establish if services provided were competitive. The regulator would have to establish guidelines to make up for any lack of competition in the sector, including a veto for significant market power.

The Bill was proposing changes to the Electronic Communications Act, the Malta Communications Authority Act and the Consumer Affairs Act.

Any consumer complaint received by the MCA would have to be tackled by the Consumer Affairs Division with specialised technical back-up from the MCA.

Changes proposed in the Bill were meant to be complemented by the issue of amendments to ­particular regulations in the sector, practically networks and communication services technologies.

Starting last June, the MCA had started a two-month consultation process on the proposed changes and subsidiary legislation that would have to follow approval of the Bill. There had been a good response by leading and smaller operators, the Consumer Affairs Division and other specialised entities.

The authority had taken on board all submitted changes, which meant that the Bill today was not contentious because it also conformed to EU directives. Neither was it contentious politically.

The Bill would give Malta a strong, solid base to bring the country’s legal framework into conformity with technological advances. Malta would be among the first countries to have a legislative framework that would help to continue attracting investment, Dr Gatt said.