​Changes in the field of energy introduced by the Government by Emergency Decree No. 119/2022 has a serious destabilizing effect on telecommunications services and seriously affects investment plans in the industry, the Association of Mobile Operators of Romania (AOMR), which represents Orange, Vodafone and Telekom Mobile, warned on Friday.

• “Because of the mentioned GEO, proposed by the Government at the meeting on September 1, 2022, without public consultation, without following any instrument of transparency of decision-making, the executive authority overnight, seven months ago, cancels the threshold values ​​for limiting the price of electricity, on on the basis of which providers of electronic communications built their business plans for 2022-2023.” This is stated in a statement sent to HotNews.ro.

The telecommunications companies say that with this GEO, the executive authority cancels the development, investment and cost estimates made by electronic communications operators for a specific infrastructure.

Operators remind that the operation of networks that are considered strategically important, especially in the current geopolitical context, involves constant and significant consumption of electricity.

• “Taking into account the context of the announced auction using the 5G spectrum, which involves significant investments by telecommunication operators, as well as the fact that telephone and Internet services are important and present in all aspects of economic, social and educational activities in Romania, the adoption of this Emergency Decree risks serious disruptions with a negative impact on the entire economy and society as a whole and jeopardizes Romania’s digitization efforts,” say the three most active operators through the voice of AOMR.

The association reminds that Romania has the lowest telephone and Internet prices in Europe, the average income per user is 6.3 euros compared to, for example, 11.38 euros in Hungary, 14.92 euros in Spain, 20.17 euros in France , and the quality of services is high. in Romania surpasses the quality of services in other European countries and also notes that Romania currently ranks last in the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) published by the European Commission in 2022 (and also in 2021), and the measures taken make it even more difficult restoration of the existing digital gap compared to other European states.

The three main communication operators ask the competent authorities to analyze the compliance and consequences of the provisions of this GEO with the rules of competition and state aid, considering that the telecommunications sector, a sector of strategic importance for Romania, supports the full range of economic and social activities of Romania.

Furthermore, given the fact that the short-, medium- and long-term consequences of the GEO provisions are significant, the three major operators argue that to avoid them, there is an urgent need to include the telecommunications sector in the scope of the electricity tariff capping provision.

GEO’s impact on energy: the telecommunications industry will have additional costs of 400 million euros

The criticism came in the context of the fact that, due to the new emergency order adopted on Thursday, September 1, the government decided to end the consumption compensation for all non-household consumers, as was the case in order 27/2022.

Thanks to the new regulation, the new beneficiaries are only SMEs, economic operators of the food industry and public institutions, which will be compensated for 85% of the average monthly consumption achieved in 2021, as well as public and private hospitals, public educational institutions and private, kindergartens and public suppliers public and private social services – for which total consumption is limited and compensated.

The rest of the industries, including telecommunications, will pay the full market price, without any compensation from the state budget.

Sources from the telecommunications industry have already told HotNews.ro that the changes adopted by the government will lead to additional costs of 400 million euros.

Photo source: Dreamstime.com.