“It's very important for the exclusive (CTM) concession to end and for the telecoms market to be open to full competition” said John Ure, associate professor and director of the Telecom Research Project for the University of Hong Kong, during a workshop which was held by the Consumer Council (CC).
After the workshop, the Council also organised a meeting inviting representatives from China Unicom (Macau) Company Limited, Hutchison Telephone (Macau) Company Limited, SmarTone Mobile Communications (Macau) Limited, the Computer Chamber of Macau, the Association of Consumers of Public Utility Companies and the Information Technology Education Association for further discussions on the development of the liberalisation of the market.
All participants unanimously supported the idea of fixing a timetable for the smooth running of the market liberalisation process as well as a proposal for one to be drawn up by the regulator as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Telecommunications Regulation (DSRT) revealed yesterday that CTM's fixed telephony line concession would lapse in 2011.
As of 2012, the fixed telephony line services will no longer be operated on a concession basis, according to DSRT.
However, DSRT also indicated that there would be no public consultation on the issue of a telecom market liberalisation.
On this subject, the Consumer Council expects the DSRT to fix a timetable and enact a proposal for the liberalisation, in order to enable new competition to gear up for the market in ample time.
Meanwhile, as a result of the decline in oil prices, the Council has already sent its staff to check whether oil companies had conformed to their undertaking to adjust the price of various oil products in time, just after the reduction announcement was announced.
For now, the Council stated that there have been some improvements by oil companies.
In addition, the Council will keep a watchful eye on the practices of oil companies and will immediately call for reprimands should any infringement of their undertaking occurs.