The Hungarian Communications Market Developments and ...

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2.1 Changes in institutional operation
The institution, as laid down in Eht., was established in 2004 and
regulatory work under a new framework and based on strategic
foundations started.
After the completion of the first market analysis procedure also
recognized at an international level and drawing on the experiences of
the first year of operation, NHH’s goal for 2005 was the rationalization
of the organisation with a view to ensuring more effective operation.
In order to reinforce legal expert activity supporting the Authority’s
operation, the General Legal Directorate was established as a new
organisational unit of the Office.
Regulatory strategies and strategies of various professional areas
provided the foundation for the development of institutional operation.
In view of the fact that the procedures of the Authority, due to their
complexity, often require input from several professional areas (technical,
economic, legal and administrative), at the end of the second
year of operation, a rearrangement took place: different sectors in
the Authority were established uniting professional experiences, information
and expertise in these sectors, as a result of which centres
of professional competence were set up. This constituted a crucial
step towards more transparent and increasingly efficient operation.
To this end, the Economic, the Technical, the Legal, and the Administrative
and Supervisory Sectors were founded.
In the second half of the year, consumer information promotions
as well as the portal called TANTUSZ, facilitating tariff comparison
and services search, were launched.
As of 1st July 2006, Act LVII of 2006 on central state administrative
bodies and on the legal status of Government members and state secretaries
came into effect, qualifying NHH as a government office, an organisation
with duties of key importance, responsible for the implementation
of telecommunications policy. The new status of the Authority as
a government office justified the further development of the organisation
with a view to ensuring flexible responses to new challenges.
One of the events of key importance in the year 2006 was that “regional
directorates” (Budapest, Sopron, Pécs, Szeged, Debrecen, and
Miskolc) emerged into competence centres along their successful operation
on the basis of the principle of task sharing. With respect to the
functions of NHH as a government office and communications regulatory
authority, it became desirable to establish a new organisational unit
within NHH, the Directorate of State Administration Relations.
In 2007, institutional development was concentrated on efficient
and transparent operation. The main focus of the work was electronic
administration of processes. After the organisation “matured”
by the end of the third year of its operation, the strengthening of
the Authority’s domestic and international relations received special
emphasis, which was also necessitated by the international roles of
the Authority and the positions of the Chairman of the Board both in
ERG/IRG and RSPG.
The primary goal, i.e. further quality improvement of the Authority’s
operation, was to build a knowledge management strategy and
system, to facilitate the development of organisational culture, and
to reinforce cost-effectiveness.
In 2008, the key directions for the Authority’s operation included
the harmonisation of regulation and convergence challenges, the improvement
of domestic and international relations, and the development
of efficient and transparent operation.
One of the most decisive elements of the activity of NHH today is
to help raise consumer awareness. The main tasks in this respect are
to reinforce the Authority’s function as a point of reference and to
widely publicize the activity of HFJK. With reference to this work, a
Consumer Awareness Programme was launched, defining the steps
to be taken in the period between 2008 and 2010 with the purpose
of strengthening consumer-centred operation.
The agreements signed with the Hungarian Competition Authority
and the Hungarian Authority for Consumer Protection in 2004 served
the purpose of strengthening cooperation and the uniform application
of law. In 2008, the Authority also signed an agreement of strategic
importance with the National Radio and Television Board (ORTT).
As a result of the Authority’s leading positions both in ERG/IRG
and RSPG, the years 2008 and 2009 are of key importance in terms
of the Authority’s international roles, which will affect the operation
of almost all organisational units of the Authority.
IT development
As a knowledge-based organisation, the National Communications
Authority is relying on a high-quality and complex IT environment when
performing its activities. Over the past five years, developments were
effected to meet present challenges and the increasing demands faced
by the public sector.
Public servants employed by the Authority enjoy modern office environments
and appropriate hardware and software support, including the
possibility of safe remote access. There is a modern video conferencing
system available compatible with both ISDN and IP technologies, which
is used with great efficiency in liaising with other NRAs throughout the
EU. This system helps keeping travel expenses low and reducing time
spent travelling. Previously isolated procedures of the Authority are now
assisted by several complex systems wholly or partly integrated with
each other. The Authority has modernized its Computerized Document
Management System (SZÜR), a system electronically supporting the
internal and external management of files, complete with interfaces
allowing integration. Thus, file management functions are now available
as an automatic service, making certain recording tasks, which previously
required manual work, unnecessary. This system, automatically
directs electronically sent requests to the right organisational units with
the data of such requests forwarded to specialized systems, and, making,
in the case of e-administration, electronic authorisation possible.