German lawmakers opened debate Thurs. on amendments to the Teleco...

introduced by the federal govt., would boost customer protection rules for e- communications service providers, including bill warnings, regulatory review of standard offerings, porting consumers to other providers and limitation of liability for service providers. Its Sec. 9a would grant “regulatory holidays” for services in new markets. Deutsche Telekom (DT) has lobbied hard for such an exemption, which would benefit its new fiber network. Rivals want Sec. 9a stricken “or at least amended so that it only kicks in if there is no concern that the exemption will not harm competition even from a short-term perspective,” attorney Axel Spies said on behalf of the German Competitive Telecom Assn. (VATM). VATM also wants the amendments to set clear, binding timetables for actions by regulator BnetzA, he said. VATM also seeks “clear-cut and fair reimbursement rules for eavesdropping requests and mandatory data retention,” said Spies, a lawyer at Washington firm Bingham McCutchen. In a study, Bonn U. Prof. Christian Koenig concluded VDSL, the very fast broadband network DT is installing, isn’t a “new market” deserving exempt from preemptive regulation -- at least temporarily, by way of regulatory holidays, Spies told us. Koenig, whom DT hired to help improve its chances for passage of Sec. 9a, believes new markets must be defined by the products they offer, not how information is transported and delivered to end customers in those markets, Spies said.