Universal Service in Telecommunications Sector in France

Abstract

Universal service is defined in general terms to include voice services at an affordable price, information services and a telephone directory as well as public payphones. The concept of the universal service is making affordable basic telephone service available to everyone everywhere within a nation state. A social accessibility must be provided for low income and disabled users, a connection to the fixed network, which includes functional internet access; reasonable geographic access to public call boxes. To ensure that a minimum set of high quality electronic communication services is available to all users at an affordable price that does not distort competition, in accordance with the European regulatory framework, the French Postal and Electronic Communications Code (CPCE) establishes a universal electronic communications service. The components of the universal service are available throughout the French territory. The French telecommunications law provide the national regulatory authority of electronic communications and postal (ARCEP) with sufficiently strong power to penalize unlawful behaviour so as to present a clear deterrent to potential offenders and give consumers and operators confidence that rules will be swiftly and fairly enforced. In addition, ARCEP has to ensure that the obligations continue to meet the needs of users as demands and technology change and also find the right balance between the needs of vulnerable users and changing commercial conditions.