Telecom Supervision 1998

01/04/1999

The Swedish National Post and Telecom Agency (PTS) is in charge of supervising compliance in Sweden with the Telecommunications Act, as well as all licences granted and applicable instructions. It is vital to achieving the goals of the telecoms policy that this supervision functions properly. PTS is able through its supervisory activities to follow developments in the telecoms market and ensure that individuals, companies and authorities alike throughout Sweden have access to efficient telecommunications.

Supervision is conducted on an ongoing basis and in a variety of fields. The purpose of this report is to describe the supervisory activities of 1998. PTS has since continued to supervise the majority of the areas discussed in the report. All matters noted during the supervisory activities of 1999 will be summarised in a similar report and published in the spring of 2000.

Supervisory activities extend to all licence holders, but the extent of such supervision varies depending on their market position. This is why supervision in 1998 tended to focus largely on Telia.

A change in the Telecommunications Act on 1 July 1997 gave PTS explicit sector responsibility for the telecoms field, including a co-ordinating and unifying function in relation to the Swedish Competition Authority and the latter’s policies on competition and consumer issues in the telecoms market. The appendices to this report contain descriptions of the Competition Authority’s and the Consumer Agency’s roles and experiences during 1998.