Muscat Daily had reported about the legislation on Access and Interconnection Regulation on April 19.

TRA conducted its first market review and designated Omantel and Ooredoo as dominant licensees in retail and wholesale markets through its Market Definition and Dominance Decision No 74/2013.

A press release stated that this decision also sets out the ex-ante regulatory remedies that the dominant licensees must adhere to in order to safeguard fair competition and prevent abuse of dominance in the relevant markets. TRA has now issued the above mentioned regulations which provide a detailed framework for the required regulatory interventions.

Accounting Separation Regulation

The Regulation on Accounting Separation Regulatory Accounting & Reporting Requirements was earlier issued by TRA in 2009. The accounting separation requirement was imposed on Omantel (as a notified operator) at that time for its fixed business only.

The objective of the accounting separation obligation is to ensure that dominant licensees in Oman treat other licensees in a fair and non-discriminatory manner and that TRA obtains in the right format and at the right level of detail the accounting information of licensees to carry out its duties in safeguarding the competitive environment against potential abuses of dominance.

In order to bring the Regulation on Accounting Separation Regulatory Accounting & Reporting Requirements in line with the requirements of the MDD Decision (74/2013) TRA has now issued new Accounting Separation Regulation in which the scope of accounting separation obligation has been extended to all dominant licensees for all relevant markets. Further improvements have also been introduced in the procedures for getting more transparent reporting of separated accounts.

The regulation requires separate accounts for each relevant market in which a licensee has been declared dominant and for each regulated service in that market.

Access and Interconnection Regulation

Access and Interconnection arrangements are vital in markets that have multi-telecom providers to ensure smooth communication between users of services across networks. These arrangements involve technical and financial aspects and are governed by legal agreements.

The newly issued Access and Interconnection (A&I) Regulation sets forth the rights and obligations of the dominant and non-dominant licensees in a comprehensive manner and establishes rules and procedures pertaining to the performance of such obligations.

All telecommunications licensees in Oman are required to comply with the A&I Regulation in providing access and interconnection to other licensees and to submit all such agreements to TRA for approval. To ensure more transparency and non-discrimination the regulation requires dominant licensees to place all such agreements on their websites.

With the aim of speeding up the agreement negotiation process the regulation requires dominant licensees to submit their draft reference offers to TRA for approval within 30 days of the issuance of regulation.