The Communications Commission has initiated public administrative research on the subject of existing competition on the fixed and mobile service market. Over the course of three months, the Commission will study each segment of the fixed and mobile service market, including the internet, sound services, broadcast transit, short messages and service packages.

To bring the sector in in line with the EU legislation in accordance with the EU-Georgia Association Agreement, the Commission has prepared the first package of changes regarding certain fixed and mobile communication services. Over the last few years, the Commission has implemented numerous actions. 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. The wholesale global internet tariff was reduced from GEL 32 to GEL 9. 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, and will soon begin the monitoring process to establish whether operators are providing customers with the quality of service that is in line with their contractual duties. The Commission will respond to any violations in this regard.

Following the implementation of the aforementioned changes, the final results of which will be evident in 3-6 months, the Commission was due to initiate market research on fixed and mobile network services. However, operators have speeded up this process by deciding to raise tariffs. Although the reduction in wholesale service tariffs gave operators the opportunity to also reduce retail tariffs on fixed and mobile services, none of the major operators have taken any actions to this end. On the contrary, Magticom and Silknet announced their intention to raise retail tariffs on fixed and mobile services. The Commission is prioritising this issue, and is not ruling out the possibility of introducing upper tariff limits on certain services after completing its market research.

The hearing of this issue will take place at the Communications Commission on 18 April 2019.