German law allowing regulatory relief for ‘new’ telecom services ...
German law allowing regulatory relief for “new” telecom services became official Fri., setting up a clash between Germany and the EC. Under the Telecom Act amendments, regulator BNetzA can exempt Deutsche Telekom (DT) from having to give rivals access…
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as it builds a next-generation VDSL fiber network. The “regulatory holiday” idea rattled European telecom, in Dec. spurring the EC to approve plans to notify Germany formally that it would bring infringement action once the law took effect. The EC “has taken notice of Germany’s publication” of the law in an official journal, an EC spokeswoman said Fri. The timing of the formal notice isn’t clear but more information is expected this week, she said. DT competitors hope BNetzA narrowly reads the new rules to avoid giving the incumbent a regulatory moratorium - - and other dominant telcos the same idea, they said. But “this is a difficult task given the wording of the new law,” said attorney Axel Spies on behalf of the German Competitive Carriers Assn. (VATM). Failure to obtain fair access to the fiber network will bring back monopolization of the market, he said. VATM hopes the EC steps in to ensure Germany obeys EU law, Spies said: “The next few weeks will be crucial.” The EC is analyzing its telecom rules to see if they offer the right incentives for investing in infrastructure and services. In that discussion, one might have expected a major debate over whether to force incumbents to open their networks to competitors or get regulatory holidays to foster investment, Information Society Dir.-Gen. Fabio Colasanti said last week at a Brussels conference of the Progress & Freedom Foundation and the Centre for European Policy Studies. Instead, discussion has been overshadowed by the “big shouting match” as the German govt. and DT have squared off against the EC, he said. The feud underlines the need for more consensus on the goals of preemptive, or “ex ante,” regulation, Colasanti said. Given ex ante regulation’s transitory nature, he said, people shouldn’t expect it to provide “perfect competition.”