Forecast for EU Telecom Package Grows Cloudier
Government ministers plan to move forward on the proposed telecom single market (or connected continent) package, an EU diplomatic source told us Monday. The debate over whether the legislation, which includes controversial net neutrality provisions, will stall out in the Council of Europe heated up when European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was reported by The Wall Street Journal Friday to have asked his commissioners to "examine all pending proposals in your area and to signal those which we should review together, for example because they have no realistic chance of being adopted in the near future, or because the degree of ambition achievable does not match the objectives sought." That potential review will have "no effect" on the connected continent measure, said the diplomatic source. Some in the telecom community agree that legislation will eventually emerge, while others think it will die.
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Telecom ministers are scheduled to discuss the measure Nov. 27. The possible review of current proposals won't affect connected continent, said the EU diplomatic source. The new European Parliament wants to make progress on it and during their hearings before lawmakers, "no Commission-designate gave any indication that it was under consideration for withdrawal," she told us.
To the contrary, the current draft agenda for the meeting includes a "general approach" on the telecom reform package, the EU diplomatic source said. General approach "means the Council's position to start negotiations with the European Parliament," she said. The draft agenda, along with the substance of its items, will be discussed Friday by the Council's preparatory committee, she said. Draft legislative texts aren't available yet, and the measure "is very much a work in progress," she said.
"The Council will likely adopt some form" of the package, "although not right away, so as to be seen to be doing something," said Brussels telecommunications lawyer David Cantor in an interview. But the net neutrality provisions "are a mess as matters stand" and the roaming provisions are "increasingly moot in the age of WhatsApp." The real issue these days is whether telecom regulation will encourage EU-level, as opposed to national level, consolidation going forward, he said.
Many observers "have recognized that such kinds of instructions [Juncker's letter] will likely bring the withdrawal of the [single telecom market] proposal," independent telecom consultant Innocenzo Genna wrote in a Monday blog post. Many parts of the proposal are controversial, such as net neutrality and mobile roaming, he said. In addition, the entire package "appears far from being able to establish" a single telecom market, since the European Parliament and Council drastically modified and watered down former Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes' original "weak and controversial" plan, said Genna, who represents smaller players. Given that, and Juncker's letter, the package seems likely to fail, he said.