As regards the right of mobile operators to interconnect directly with foreign networks, Portugal claims that the international tariffs of the fixed voice-telephony service of Portugal Telecom are still out of line with costs. If this right was to be implemented without delay, Portugal Telecom would have either to lower sharply its international tariffs (impact estimated at Esc 9,652 billion in 1997) or lose - according to estimates - 15 % of its international fixed traffic to the benefit of the mobile operators (i.e. Esc 8,104 billion in 1997).
For Portugal the question is about the speed of rebalancing. Owing to the limits of the proposed price cap regime, Portugal claims that Portugal Telecom needs about five years to implement decreases in long-distance and international call charges and increases of installation and monthly rental charges, i.e. from 1996 to 2000.
Consequently telecommunications organizations would normally raise bi-monthly rental and local calls (or at least not decrease these charges) and reduce tariffs for long-distance calls. It appears, however, that Portugal Telecom's local charges are as mentioned already high in comparison with other Member States and Portugal Telecom will therefore not be able to compensate decreases in trunk and international charges with increases in local charges.
