EC Said Ready to End Regulation of Several Telecom Markets
The European Commission (EC) plans to deregulate 7 telecom markets, including those for local, national and international calls to retail customers, the Financial Times reported Thurs. The proposal, part of EC recommendations to update its e-communication regulatory framework (NRF), won’t be unveiled formally until June 28, but enough information on it was circulating Thurs. to prompt preliminary comments from several industry players.
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The NRF requires analyses by national telecom regulators of 18 separate markets to decide if pre-emptive rules are needed to spur competition. The EC reportedly believes 7 markets are so competitive dominant players no longer hold an advantage over rivals.
“According to our information from Brussels, the EC will stand firm as far as regulating the broadband markets for end-users over glass fiber (VDSL) is concerned,” said Axel Spies, an attorney for the German Competitive Carriers Assn. (VATM). Deutsche Telekom (DT) wants a regulatory moratorium while it builds a fiber network, an idea the EC appears to be ready to reject. That means incumbents won’t get regulatory holidays, or be able to deny rivals fair access to their high speed networks, he said, calling the recommendations “good news for efficient regulation and will strengthen Germany’s telecom regulator.” That body, BnetzA, opposes a moratorium for DT.
Neither the current framework nor the draft proposal have enough safeguards for net neutrality in Europe, an ISP industry source said. The NRF is all about competition among network operators, the source said. If a vertically- integrated dominant telco decides to offer a triple-play service with VoIP, for instance, there’s not much to keep it from limiting others’ VoIP offerings by restricting bandwidth or lowering quality of service.
The U.K. Dept. of Trade & Industry is waiting to see the final text of the recommendation, it said. “Although we are all for the deletion of regulation where it is justified, we are not sure, in this case, whether it is,” said Nigel Hickson, European e-commerce and telecom regulatory framework head.
The EC is discussing policy options, a spokeswoman said. Information Society & Media Comr. Viviane Reding will make the recommendation public at a briefing next Wed., after which there will be a comment period.