NMHH inquiry on SMS fees
Based on the notification of the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH), service providers are presumed to follow a unified practice for pricing SMS termination and mass SMSs (e.g. message notification on bank transactions) since their rates are roughly the same but high in international comparison. Therefore the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (NMHH) is launching a so-called sectoral inquiry based on the results of which it will decide whether a regulatory or other intervention is necessary in the sector.
Forwarding SMSs among service providers is carried out in exchange for a so-called SMS termination fee. This means that the receiving service provider requests a fee for receiving a message from another network, which in the end is paid by the subscriber. The price movements and other conditions in the notification of the GVH indicate that in the market of SMS termination or certain submarkets thereof competition may be limited or distorted. Therefore, the NMHH president launched a regulatory investigation against Magyar Telekom Távközlési Nyrt., Vodafone Magyarország Távközlési Zrt., Telenor Magyarország Zrt., DIGI Távközlési és Szolgáltató Kft., TARR Építő, Szolgáltató és Kereskedelmi Kft. and Netfone Telecom Távközlési és Szolgáltató Kft. to gain information about and assess the market processes.
If as a result of the electronic communications sectoral inquiry, the authority reaches the conclusion that in the Hungarian SMS termination market or on any submarkets thereof an intervention is necessary, then the authority will do all necessary steps to eliminate the issue on the market.