The Communications Commission has completed its research on the mobile communication market, based on which it took several important decisions to protect consumer interests and develop the market. Thus, the Commission sharply reduced the wholesale price of global internet and imposed an upper tariff limit. From 1 July 2019, the price of 1 MB/sec will be GEL 9 instead of GEL 32. As for the retail service market segments, the study determined that this market is competitive and requires no further regulations.

The Commission is satisfied with the results of market research, as it believes that introducing additional regulations on the retail market would represent a setback for development of the telecommunications sector. The Commission considered introducing such regulations following the announcement by two major operators about their intentions to increase service charges. The Commission believed that there was no need to raise prices on the retail market, and this view was supported by the results of market research. As a result of active negotiations with the two major operators, the companies agreed not to increase service charges before the end of the year, maintain diversity of their offers and continue to actively communicate with the Commission.

Nevertheless, we would like to emphasise that if companies were to attempt similar moves in the future, the Commission will respond more rigorously and use all the levers afforded to it by the legislation to protect consumer rights.

As a result of market research, the Commission also decided to abolish the 24-tetri upper limit on retail sound services.

The Communications Commission firmly believes that liberalisation of the wholesale market is the best way to achieve a healthier telecommunications market.

The Commission has worked actively in recent years to liberalise the wholesale fixed telecommunications market. In September 2017, the upper tariff limits for interconnection services for major mobile and landline operators were reduced from 3.5 tetri to 0.75 tetri for mobile networks, and from 2 tetri to 0.28 tetri for landlines. Furthermore, the decision to significantly reduce wholesale service tariffs for main lines came into effect in 2019. From 15 January 2019, major operators also have a duty to grant small and medium-scale operators access to their infrastructure. Furthermore, the Commission implemented the internet service control system on the retail market. All of these decisions are important for the development of the telecommunications market, as increased competition from small and medium-scale operators will help increase service quality and reduce prices.

As for fixed internet, the Commission has not yet completed its study in this segment. The information obtained during initial research turned out to be insufficient for taking the final decision. The Commission will therefore conduct additional research in this segment and work with experienced international consultants to develop a model for separating and calculating variable and fixed retail service costs, which will be used to assess the profitability of fixed internet tariffs.

As a result of the decision to regulate the wholesale global internet market, small and medium-scale operators will have access to the global web through any connection point operated by Caucasus Online and Silknet. Previously, small operators were only able to access this service in Tbilisi.

Moreover, from 1 August 2019, small and medium-scale operators will be able to access cached contents of international websites such as YouTube and Google for 50 tetri per MB/sec. Major operators must also allow smaller operators access to the local internet resources of their networks for the same price.

The Communications Commission will continue to actively work on improving the telecommunications market. To this end, it will implement several important projects over the course of 2019.