INTERSHIP

Baraian Oana Carmen ACIA an II

National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications of Romania (ANCOM)

1. History
The institution that regulates the Romanian electronic communications sector today resulted from the merger of two bodies with experience and expertise in the relevant field of management and regulation: The Inspectorate General for Communications and Information Technology (IGCTI) and the National Regulatory Authority for Communications (ANRC). Before 1990, The Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications was the administrator of the radio frequency spectrum, by means of the Frequencies Division of the Directorate General for Post and Telecommunications. Given the strategic importance of the two activities - transport and telecommunications - for the development of the national infrastructure, on 2 January 1990, a first step was taken towards the re organization of the Romanian telecommunications sector, by adopting an emergency solution for the institutional separation of activities. Thus, the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications was dissolved into two new entities: The Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications. The latter took over all the central, regional and local structures in the telecommunications, radio communications and postal fields, both the ones with executive and regulatory attributions and the operational ones. Shortly after that, on 30 July 1990, The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications was reorganized by separating the executive responsibilities from the operating and exploitation ones. This is when the Ministry of Communications and ROM-POST-TELECOM, the first Romanian national company were established. This company took over the operational activities in the

field of telecommunications, radio communications and post, whereas the Ministry remained in charge of the elaboration and enforcement of the policies, strategies and regulations in the field. The Ministry of Communications understood that the new national company was not viable, since its structure was not very different from the centralized one of the communist period. Therefore, one year later, on 1 July 1991, ROM-POST-TELECOM was broken into four national companies: Romtelecom, Romanian Post, Radio communications, The Inspectorate General for Radio communications (IGR) and the company Bancpost. IGR would become IGCTI. In May 1997, The General Inspectorate for Radio communications, the national company with attributions in the field of managing the radioelectric frequency spectrum and of technical control in the radio communications sector, turned into the Inspectorate General for Communications (IGC) and received new attributions in the surveillance and control of the post and telecommunications. In March 2002, another change occurred, IGC becoming a public institution subordinated to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. On the same date, the Inspectorate took over the management of the e-government projects, therefore the Inspectorate General for Communications became the Inspectorate General for Communications and Information Technology IGCTI. In November 2004, IGCTI was transferred from the subordination of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology into the subordination of the Government and was entrusted with amending the secondary legislation in the field. The National Regulatory Authority for Communications (ANRC) was set up in 2002, in the context of preparing Romania for its accession to the European Union, for the purpose of ensuring competition in the electronic communications and postal services market, which was soon to be fully liberalized, on 1 January 2003. ANRC started its activity in September 2002, having as its main objective promoting competition and protecting the rights and interests of the users of electronic communications networks and services and of postal services, as well as ensuring access to universal service for all the citizens of Romania. In December 2006, ANRC turned into the National Regulatory Authority for Communications and Information Technology (ANRCTI), which thus took over regulatory and surveillance attributions in the field of information technology, with a view to the thorough harmonization of the national legislation with the Community legislation and in order that the information technology sector should be

regulated in close connection with the electronic communications and postal services sector, as convergent fields. In April 2007, IGCTI and ANRCTI merged under the latters name, so that the communications and the information technology sectors could be regulated on a level ground, by one body that covered both the expertise and responsibilities for the management of the limited spectrum and numbering resources and those for promoting competition and the end-users rights. In September 2008, the new Authority extended its scope of competence by encompassing the national administration of the TLD (top level domain) .ro and of the SLD (second level domain) .eu for the names of domains reserved to Romania. Now entitled The National Authority for Communications (ANC) a public institution with legal personality subordinated to the Government the regulatory authority became the only administrator of the policies in the field of electronic communications, postal services and information technology. On 19 March 2009, the Authority was reorganized as The National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM), an autonomous public authority under the control of the Romanian Parliament.

2. Mission, vision, values

The National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) is the institution that protects the interests of the communications users in Romania, by promoting competition in the communications market, managing scarce resources, encouraging efficient investment in infrastructure and innovation. Through its activity, the Authority aims that all the inhabitants of Romania enjoy quality communications services, at fair prices, while the operators develop through innovation. The ANCOM team cherishes professionalism and is dedicated to accomplishing all its tasks in a professional manner, respectful of their profession, knowledge and partners. They all act responsibly, thoroughly understanding that their actions will effect over years upon tens of millions of users. ANCOM employees are aware that untainted integrity is the foundation of trust, respect the values they have settled for and the mission entrusted to them.

The principles guiding ANCOM in its regulatory activity are: necessity, opportunity, proportionality, obligatory character, technological neutrality, transparency, predictability, stability and the efficient use of resources. In its activity ANCOM aims to accomplish two major objectives: promoting competition and the best interests of the end users. In the context of the complete liberalization of the electronic communications and postal services market, promoting competition represents a high priority objective. Competition will act as an incentive for the development of investments and improvement of the market players efficiency, ensuring the appearance of new technologies, as well as lower tariffs. In order to promote competition, ANCOM acts in the following directions: Prevent the actions leading to the distortion or restraint of the competition in the electronic communications market; Stimulate efficient investments in the infrastructure and promote innovation; Promote technological neutrality. Promoting the interests of end users represents a highly important objective, and for this reason ANCOM focuses on the following directions for action: Grant Romanian citizens the right of access to Universal Service; Ensure the protection of consumers interests in their relation with the providers, especially by making available a transparent, impartial, simple and free of charge dispute mediation procedure; Get involved in protecting the rights of persons, especially the right to privacy, as regards the processing of personal data; Promote transparency towards the users by keeping them appropriately informed about tariffs and the other conditions related to the use of publicly available services; Promote the specific interests of the users with disabilities or special needs; Protect the integrity and security of the electronic communications networks

3. The main communication methods

Business communication is nothing but, the communication between the people in the organization for the purpose of carrying out the business activities. It may be oral, verbal, written etc.

A business can flourish when all the targets of the organization are achieved effectively. For efficiency in an organization all the people (within and outside) of the organization must be able to convey their message properly. The exchange of ideas, understanding, within and outside the organization to achieve the business goals is known as business communication. The main business communication methods are the following: Letters / memos / reports In spite of the increase in electronic communication, we all seem to receive our fair share of messages on paper. This may be because there is no e-mail link between the parties, because a hard copy is required to meet audit or legal requirements or because the recipient prefers to read from paper than from a screen. Manuals Another common form of paper document, with the distinction that the main purpose is reference rather than gaining a response. Printed materials A great deal of our post consists of printed documents in the form of brochures, fliers, magazines and newsletters, many of which originate from outside, although this format is also common for corporate communications. Depending on the production values and the number of colours, printed materials can be expensive to produce and replicate, except at high volumes. Fax Fax uses the public telephone system as a way of delivering paper documents from one place to another, in those situations where a hard copy original is not essential. E-mail E-mail has become the primary means for delivering short text messages within organizations that are networked. As e-mail between organizations becomes more common, the medium will increasingly take the place of fax, particularly as whole documents can be sent as e-mail attachments. E-mail provides many cost advantages when compared with the use of paper or the telephone. Intranet An intranet uses the same technology as the Internet, but operates within the confines of a single organization. Normally an intranet is used to deliver text and images, although the technology is capable of audio, animation, video and real-time 3D graphics (sometimes called 'virtual reality').

The principal constraint on the media that an intranet can employ is the bandwidth (capacity) of the organizations network, although it is also the case that few desktop PCs are currently capable of playing audio. Information is much less expensive to distribute and maintain with an intranet than with paper equivalents. Radio With limited frequencies available, radio is used almost exclusively for public broadcast channels and has few uses for business communications. Furthermore, radio receivers are not commonly available in the workplace. TV Like radio, broadcast TV is typically used for public rather than business purposes and few TV receivers are available at work. However, some organizations with large branch networks use satellite to transmit TV programs to the workforce. One-to-ones By this, we just mean two people meeting face to face, here and now. Meetings And by this, we mean three or more people, meeting in person. Phone Phones are universal and, with the advent of voice mail and mobile phones, it is now possible to reach people practically anytime, anywhere. Conferencing facilities also make it possible for meetings of three or more people to take place remotely. Video conferencing Video conferencing uses phone lines to transmit video as well as sound, between two or more parties. Because cameras, microphones, audio playback, special software and high-bandwidth network cabling are required, video conferencing is used only infrequently and on speciallyprovided workstations. However, as networks become more powerful and the hardware components less expensive, it is conceivable that the facility will eventually be available on every PC.

4. ANCR Communication

Main communication activities Once with the entry into force of the ANCOM decision establishing the minimum set of information the telephony providers customers are entitled to, the providers of electronic communications services have the obligation to inform the users on their rights and obligations. In order to inform the users on their new rights, ANCOM created a dedicated section on its website, i.e. Consumer InfoCentre, where the end-users may learn more about their right to be informed by the providers, about contracts and invoices, portability and risks which might appear when using certain services (e.g. telephone frauds or non-voluntary roaming). ANCOM promptly responded to the information requests and complaints submitted by the endusers, and, considering that part of these complaints concerned matters related to the consumer protection, ANCOM took steps toward strenghtening its collaboration with the National Authority for Consumer Protection, given the complementary competences the two institutions hold as regards the protection of the communications users interests. The Authority maintained in 2009 the dialogue with the electronic communications industry representatives, by means both of the public consultation process and of the Consultative Council meetings, as well as via the numerous consultative sessions and project working group meetings, organized upon the ANCOM or the industrys initiative. The electronic briefs transmitted by the Authority whenever necessary (press releases) or on a weekly basis (newsletter) play a significant role in the communication with the industry and the consumers. The Authoritys briefs, drawn up in Romanian and English, are sent by electronic mail to approximately 3,000 registered users (representatives of the industry, of the users, of mass-media from Romania and abroad, of the European Commission and of other European regulatory authorities). Public consultation and communication with the industry Through its website, in 2009, ANCOM launched 13 public consultations on 15 draft normative or individual acts. Public consultations launched by announcing and posting the drafts on the website precede the meetings of the Consultative Council, an advisory body within which representatives of the providers and of their professional associations, users associations, as well

as other public institutions interested in the regulation activity in the communications and postal sectors may express their points of view. 181 recommendations were received both in writing and in the eight meetings of the Consultative Council; 42 of these were deemed grounded and therefore the draft decisions were amended or completed correspondingly User information, education and advice End-users information and education are essential to enable them to choose the services which suit best their needs and to be more aware about their rights and obligations relative to their communications providers. Hence, the Authority promptly responded to the more than 900 information requests submitted by the public in 2009. Furthermore, ANCOM created a Consumer InfoCentre, a section on its website dedicated to end-users. ANCOM has taken the role of a mediator between the communications providers and the endusers, thus offering advice to those who addressed our institution on how to settle the problems they faced, as well as useful information for a better understanding of the services and offers existing on the market. The approximately 1,000 complaints received from users pointed out aspects such as: billing of the electronic communications services, faulty functioning of the services, abusive provisions or breaches of certain provisions under the contracts concluded by the electronic communications providers with the end-users, lack of proper information delivered by providers Communication with mass-media In 2009, the journalists accredited by the Authority received 59 press releases and submitted 357 requests for information, reflected in more than 1,837 press materials. Communication with the mass-media representatives is more and more efficient, 2009 being the year with the lowest number of press releases, and instead with a large mass media coverage. More than 65% of the media coverage was generated by the ANCOM sources (press releases, requests for information, interviews, website, participation in events), most articles, irrespective of the source, being neutral. The domains of interest for the press concerned regular activities deployed by ANCOM: economic regulation, interconnection tariffs, user protection, portability, digital television and

also other topics related to the Authoritys scope of competence such as the infringiment procedure launched against Romania for the independence of the regulatory authority, the reorganization, 112. Internal communication ANCOM does not have a standard procedure regarding internal communication, but there are different means of communicating. This means of communicating are in general activity related. Among those I can specify the following: Informing through e-mail, displaying different information, brochures this types of communication are highly emphasized Social activities like recycling, work shops, training sessions (on different themes) The Presidents communications and briefings The standard Procedure regarding document circulation refers to how the documents circulate through the institution, at who or what department to go to, who signs them, who sends them outside, how to register or who numbers are given (there must be a record of each document enter /exit / run in ANCOM, due to the fact that its a public institution,) who and how long they are to be archived, etc. It also specifies the specific form that the documents must have (Tahoma 12, justified, etc), it contains the standard forms required (application for leave, acquisitions reports, responses to petitions, etc.). External communication In terms of external communication in Romania, there are people nominated on various target sites (consumers, operators, licensees, etc..) and each of them relates directly to those concerned. There are also people within the International Relations Department assigned to communicate directly with the media (Communication Service). Each of the employees of the Department has direct contacts in the country or abroad, and they support them, but all of them take care not to communicate information that should not

be revealed. Furthermore all of them inform colleagues and / or direction if we find something relevant. In addition, ANCOM as a whole communicates with its partners through: their website, press releases, Advisory Council meetings attended by industry and civil society, various events which it organizes, etc. International communication ANCOMs international communication is carried out at different levels. There arent any special procedures for communicating on different levels, but the institution benefits from communication procedures regarding activities in which ANCOM is part of. These activities are seen as processes or information flows. Here are some of them: The President is the main person in charge of international communication. Most ANCOM correspondence with foreign partners goes through the International Relations Department, which prepares the necessary documentation for the President, and also councils him in different maters and edits different documents. There are nominated people within the Department whom take part in different international work groups, each of them work on their specialization. These people are in direct contact with their counterparts from the other groups and they inform the Department and the President of situations or elements that overcome their capabilities and may influence in any way the institutions international affairs. Conclusion In my opinion ANCOM uses all the traditional means of business communication. Due to the fact that part of their budget is self provided the institution is to be as decentralized as possible which can be seen even in their communication protocols. Also the tasks are assigned to the personnel in such a mater that uses the people best attributes and capabilities. One of the main attributes that is valued in ANCOM is respect. Based on this the communication style is open and as decentralized as possible.