Telia's reaction to PTS decision on carrier preselection for local calls

Telia's reaction to PTS decision on carrier preselection for local calls The Swedish National Post and Telecommunications Agency (PTS) today decided how carrier preselection for local calls will be introduced in Sweden. According to the PTS' decision, calls made by subscribers within their local area code zones will now be automatically transferred to the carrier that the subscriber has preselected for long-distance calls, if they have preselected such a carrier, as of February 2, 2002. Up to now, subscribers in Sweden have only been able to preselect a carrier for long-distance calls made with an area code (including calls from fixed to mobile networks) and for international calls. Telia maintains its previous criticism that the decision about carrier preselection for local calls does not give subscribers the possibility to actively select a carrier themselves. "We feel that the method for introducing preselection for local calls is unreasonable and maintain our previous position that customers must be able to actively make their own choice, just like they did for the previous two categories of preselection," says, Hans G. Larsson, Press Manager for Telia Nära. "It cannot be reasonable to let a telecom authority automatically introduce a regulation about local phone calls in the national preselection system without giving customers the chance to make their own choice. We are now discussing if we should appeal the decision." Telia has estimated that the decision, based on current market conditions, would mean a loss of revenues by approximately SEK 400 million for the Telia Group, but not earlier than 2002. For further information journalists can contact: Hans G. Larsson, Press Manager, Telia Nära, phone +46 70 218 18 18 ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/02/21/20010221BIT00990/bit0002.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/02/21/20010221BIT00990/bit0002.pdf