Iceland

The first step towards the full legal and operational separation of Síminn’s network infrastructure from the rest of its operations was achieved shortly after the privatisation of the incumbent operator in 2005, when the company was acquired by the Icelandic Skipti group. In April 2007, Skipti voluntarily separated its business into three legal entities (all 100% owned by Skipti):

•  
• Síminn providing the full range of fixed and mobile telecommunications services for residential and business users;
• Míla operating the national trunk and access networks, as well as passive infrastructure (including collocation services at company’s local exchanges and towers); and
• Fasteignafélagið Jörfi, a real estate company (this was sold in late 2007).

The voluntary separation model was not established to ensure the non-discriminatory treatment by Míla of Síminn and its competitors. Also, the boundaries between the wholesale services of Mila and Síminn remained rather unclear at the time, as Síminn continued to operate in both the retail and wholesale markets: e.g. offering wholesale leased lines as well as wholesale bitstream access services.

The Supervisory Committee on Equal Access by electronic communications companies to the systems, technology solutions and services of Míla and Siminn Wholesale (EJAF) was established by the ICA settlement decision no.6/2013, becoming operational in July 2013. The main task of the supervisory committee is to monitor the compliance of Míla and Siminn with the terms of the settlement approved by the ICA in 2013, and as amended in 2015.

The committee is composed of three members independent of Siminn. However, one Míla employee, who has not previously been responsible for services and customer relations, may be appointed to the committee. The chairman of the committee shall always be independent of Siminn. Siminn appoints the committee members, subject to the approval (within one month of the appointment) by the ICA and the PTA. The committee members are appointed for a term of two years. Siminn is required to ensure that the supervisory committee can function normally and cover the cost of its operations. Síminn's internal auditor shall provide information and other necessary assistance so that the committee can perform its role in accordance with the settlement agreement.

The principal tasks of the supervisory committee include:

•  
• Receiving complaints from ANOs when the settlement has not been complied with.
• Issuing to Míla and its customers advance guidance on the interpretation of the settlement conditions, to the extent that this is feasible.
• Informing Síminn how the terms of settlement are being met, with a special focus on Míla's and Síminn’s wholesale non-discrimination obligations.
• Proposing to Síminn or its subsidiaries to undertake certain actions or to cease a particular behaviour to ensure compliance with the terms of the settlement. The committee has no power to influence the business or administrative decisions of Síminn or its subsidiaries but it may collect the evidence necessary to assess whether the companies have taken adequate measures to ensure that the objectives and conditions of the settlement are achieved.
• Notifying the ICA if the committee becomes aware that the settlement conditions may have been violated.
• Ensuring that annual reporting on implementation and monitoring as well as dispute resolution is prepared at the same time as Síminn’s annual accounts. The report must be submitted to the Siminn board, the ICA and the PTA but may be subject to confidentiality, i.e. not made public and accessible to third parties. The Siminn board shall only have access to the part of the report that covers its activities.
• The confidentiality clauses shall not prevent the ICA from using the supervisory committee’s report in its investigations of alleged violations, based on the general rules on confidentiality and access to data in administrative proceedings.
• The committee must always ensure that Síminn and Míla have a reasonable time to comment on its draft report before it is presented to the ICA, when the committee considers that the conditions of this settlement may have been violated.

Elements of equivalence and non-discrimination

On 26 March 2013, the ICA settlement decision imposed a requirement for Míla to provide equal access for Síminn and its competitors to:

•  
• the same systems, services and technical solutions; and
• the same processing speed, terms and conditions, including price, quality of service and access to the same information on technical and other necessary terms.

Following a June 2015 amendment to the settlement, stricter non-discrimination requirements were imposed on Síminn’s wholesale division. This division operates as a special business unit within Síminn’s organisation, with a separate management and subject to accounting separation, as well as rules of conduct on the protection of confidential information, and with access controls between retail and wholesale operations.

The non-discrimination obligation was further enforced by the PTA market analysis decisions on M4 and M5/2007 of 13 August 2014. Míla was designated as having SMP on both markets and was required to implement non-discrimination based on EoI for all copper- and fibre-based regulated wholesale products, as a precondition for not imposing ex ante price control obligations on its fibre-based products. EoI elements include:

•  
• the same prices;
• the same service procedures/systems;
• the same time limits; and
• the same information about the services.

Mila is also required to publish internal and external KPIs on its website on monthly basis.

PTA is currently working on a new analysis of wholesale access markets (market 3a and market 3b/2014). Its new draft analysis of market 3a and market 3b/2014 was published for an initial national consultation in April-July 2020 and additional consultation was launched in October-November 2020.

As one of the most significant changes to the previous market analysis decision, PTA initially proposed to impose an ex ante price control obligations on Míla’s fibre-based products. This proposal was however withdrawn after the initial consultation.

Now PTA maintains that an ex ante economic replicability test (ERT) imposed on Míla and Síminn fibre-based products should be sufficient to alleviate competition concerns. PTA also proposes to withdraw some of the regulatory obligations in selected more competitive municipalities with regard to the duct access, the obligation to announce in advance planned civil works and the obligation to announce five years in advance any planned network changes that affect LLU access seekers.