The main changes in the PCS rules announced by Anatel director Luiz Tito Cerasoli Friday, September 27, show a return to the status quo before the public consultation, taking care to avoid possible litigation by companies that may see the changes as damaging to their interests, and an effort to facilitate network convergence. Mr Cerasoli referred specifically to the legal arguments in Oi?s contribution, which he said made a strong impression on Anatel?s board. The rules maintain long-distance carrier selection for VC-2 and VC-3 calls, as stipulated in the original draft. During the consultation process Anatel suggested elimination of carrier selection for VC-2 calls, arguing that it should be retained only for calls between the nine service areas (VC-3). Returning to the original rule means users will dial the carrier of their choice in all 67 numbering areas except when roaming ? in this case the choice is made by the PCS operator. In the text issued for public comment Anatel included a suggestion that users could choose a carrier before making calls and that operators would choose one if users didn?t. This idea was abandoned because prior choice was found to be impracticable on technical grounds. For conventional cellular telcos that migrate to PCS, carrier selection comes into force on January 31, 2003. All PCS providers including migrants must allow prepaid users to accept collect calls as of December 31, 2003.
Long distance
