Regulations governing the Post and ICT

The Legislation governing the sector of Post and ICT has gone through two (02) major steps:

•  The stage of single operator enshrined in ordinance No. 75-89 establishing the Code of Posts and Telecommunications was a step during which the State was the direct and sole supplier of the activities of the post and telecommunications. The post and telecommunications were then a public service provided by the administration to the user
•  The step of opening to competition was initiated by the law 2000-03 which introduced market mechanisms in the area of ​​Post and ICT

During the era of single operator, and similarly to other sectors namely sectors designated as "public services of networks", post and telecommunications experienced several flaws :

•  A management method characterized by quiet heavy procedure
•  A slowed development due to the absence of competition
•  Insufficient capacity of self-financing

As a result, and following the global trend of opening up public services networks to market economy, the 2000-03 legislation was passed with the core objective was to introduce competition in the telecommunications sector. An economic transition supported by the strong growth potential of this sector and by popular enthusiasm for ICT services. This objective is precisely mentioned in article 1 of the Law 2000-03: " The objectives of this law is to develop and provide quality postal and telecommunications services in an neutral, transparent and non-discriminatory manner within a competitive environment ".
Three major changes were needed to achieve this goal of demonopolization of this sector :

•  Separate between the activities of post and the activities of telecommunications on the one hand, and separate between these activities as commercial activity from the strategic missions of State on the other hand.
•  Establishing appropriate operational plans taking into account the peculiarities of each service and telecommunications network
•  Establishing a legal framework to economically regulate the market of the postal and telecommunications by creating a sectorial regulating authority

Indeed the transition from single operator to competition involves the withdrawal of the state from the commercial sphere has been attended by the creation of two private operators (i.e. commercial) commonly known as the historical operators (Art 12 of Law 2000-03)

•  ALGERIE TELECOM (Joint Stock Company)
•  ALGERIE POSTE (State Industrial and Commercial Enterprise)

It must underlined that despite the transfer of its public service activities to commercial ones in favour of these two operators, the State kept its sovereign prerogatives by enacting standards, laws and industry regulations, the exclusive use frequency spectrum, monitoring of telecommunications ...
Moreover, because the competition is likely to be violated and liable to distortion, it was necessary to create of a regulatory authority to preserve and promote competition in the postal and telecommunications markets or restore it in case it is deemed necessary.
The 2000-03 legislation was inspired by the universal principles arising from the recommendations of the International Telecommunication Union which include :

•  Functional independence of the regulator which guarantees impartiality in handling the disputes
•  The transparency of competition rules
•  The non-discrimination between operators

Following the adoption of 2000-03 law, the regulation of the sector has undergone profound changes and the adoption of several new executive decrees dealing mainly with the following aspects :

•  Set the operating regimes of postal services and telecommunications : See the text Law
•  Define the procedures of granting telecommunications licenses so as to enshrine it in national legislation the universal principles of competition, transparency and non-discrimination in licensing : See the text Law
•  Set the telecommunications services tariffs terms to preserve competition against all forms of anti-competitive pricing practices by allotting the regulator an a priori and a posteriori control of tariffs : See text Law
•  Set the interconnection arrangements for telecommunications networks: See the text Law

To streamline the interconnection by connecting all networks existing in Algeria in one large national network.
Legal and regulatory rules on interconnection are also intended to protect the competition against abusive practices to avert entry barriers on the new players by the already existing operators :

•  Defining of universal postal service and telecommunications and the means if funding: See the text Law
•  Defining of charges for the use of radio electric frequency spectrum (when using the public airwaves): See the text Law