The European Commission (EC) won’t review its new e- communications regulatory framework until next year, it said Wed. Review of its recommendation on relevant markets and services -- which lists e-communications markets slated for “ex ante” regulation by national regulatory authorities (NRAs) -- will be more meaningful if it’s done at the end of 2005, the EC said. Ex ante regulations are those imposed in advance of any showing of monopolistic behavior. The decision to reschedule was made for several “compelling reasons,” the EC said, including: (1) A significant number of European Union member states haven’t implemented the framework into national law. (2) Even those countries that have transposed the directives haven’t had time to complete requisite market analyses for the 18 markets listed in the recommendation. (3) Electronic communications markets aren’t changing rapidly enough to justify an early review. (4) Launching a review of the current recommendation on relevant markets would disrupt NRAs’ work plans and existing market analyses. Keep it short and don’t rehash old arguments, several govts. said in statements filed ahead of next week’s first preparatory committee (PrepCom) meeting for the 2nd phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Following extensive negotiations, the Dec. 2003 summit produced a declaration of principles and an action plan. Now, some commenters said, the Nov. 16-18, 2005, summit should resist the urge to craft any lengthy new documents, focusing instead on implementing the plan. Two controversial issues -- Internet governance and how to finance information and communications technology (ICT) rollout in developing countries -- should also be resolved, they said. Delegates should try to identify “practical contributions that are and can be made at the national and international levels” to speed infrastructure development, capacity building and the creation of a secure ICT environment, the U.S. said. The European Union (EU), Australia, New Zealand, and Switzerland wanted Phase II to focus on implementing the plan of action. El Salvador said it would consider the summit a “very big success” if delegates resolved Internet governance and financial mechanisms issues as well as “who will do what, when, where and how” under the action plan. Canada wanted the summit to highlight success stories and develop indicators for measuring ICT uptake by countries.
Dugie Standeford
Dugie Standeford, European Correspondent, Communications Daily and Privacy Daily, is a former lawyer. She joined Warren Communications News in 2000 to report on internet policy and regulation. In 2003 she moved to the U.K. and since then has covered European telecommunications issues. She previously covered the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and intellectual property law matters. She has a degree in psychology from Duke University and a law degree from the University of Tulsa College of Law.
Business and govt. must get serious about planning for and deploying Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) said late Mon. While IPv4, the current protocol, remains robust, the ICC said, the demand for more IP addresses is being driven by: (1) A significant annual increase in the number of Internet users. (2) The development of new applications, such as wireless communications, mobile computing and next generation telephony. (3) The growing popularity of mobile phones, portable devices and laptops. Besides allowing an enormous number of IP addresses, IPv6 will make Internet routing more efficient, create opportunities for new services that give PDAs and other devices unique IP addresses easily and quickly, and step up security at the network level, the ICC said. The group urged business, among other things, to take advantage of scheduled equipment and software upgrades to develop plans for IPv6 rollout, and to ensure network stability and security during the transition from IPv4 to IPv6. ICC called on govts. to not mandate standards or legal requirements. To do so would be “an unhelpful approach since this might inhibit targeted deployment efforts or result in inefficient use of limited resources,” the ICC said. The statement aims to focus the business community on IPv6, said Allen Miller, chmn. of ICC’s task force on the Internet and information technology services and senior vp-global affairs, Information Technology Assn. of America. Miller’s impression, he said, is that in IPv6 takeup Europe falls somewhere between Asia -- which is “out front” -- and the U.S., which is “lagging.” Miller acknowledged IPv6 isn’t without challenges (such as cost and interoperability issues), but cited its many benefits and the fact it’s compatible with IPv4 in recommending its deployment.
Delegates at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright & Related Rights (SCCR) meeting agreed Wed. to ask WIPO to consider holding a diplomatic conference on a draft treaty intended to update broadcasting rights. The action came at the end of a 3-day negotiating session. India, Brazil, and several African nations joined in resisting U.S. and European Union pressure for a speedy diplomatic conference, said Foundation for Information Policy Research Dir. Ian Brown. The treaty has engendered much controversy for several reasons, including a U.S. proposal to include webcasting and several technical protection measure (TPM) provisions, Brown said. But he said at this week’s meeting, “a long list” of delegates opposed extending broadcasting protections to webcasters. Delegates also agreed that the SCCR chmn. would prepare a revised consolidated draft treaty before the committee’s session Nov. 17-19, said Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Gwen Hinze. The new document will show in brackets items on which limited consensus exists, she said. No changes were made to the current draft, which includes webcasting as an alternative provision, Hinze said. But given the less-than-enthusiastic support for including webcasting, it appears that provision will be bracketed in the next draft, she said. In addition, Hinze said, she hopes Art. 16, which deals with TPM, will be bracketed because of concerns from Brazil, Chile and India. At its next meeting, SCCR will recommend dates and necessary preparatory steps for a possible diplomatic conference on the basis of discussions on the revised text, and gauge whether it can reach agreement on a possible treaty at a subsequent meeting, Hinze said. If it appears the treaty is a go, she said, the SCCR may recommend that its chairman come up with a basic proposal for discussion at a diplomatic conference.
Buoyed by European 2G mobile penetration rates exceeding 80%, the European Commission (EC) this week meets with industry and other stakeholders to ensure the success of emerging high-speed mobile data services. Europe can’t afford to be complacent about its leading role in mobile communications, Information Society Comr. Erkki Liikanen said Tues. He said Europe must “replicate our past approach by focusing on key enablers” such as R&D, interoperability, the content regulatory environment and spectrum policy.
In a move one news report characterized as the first mass Web censorship attempted by a Western democracy, British Telecom (BT) over the weekend said it will begin shutting off retail subscriber’s access to child pornography sites this month. The project -- which BT internally calls “Cleanfeed” but whose name is subject to change -- is a pilot that will last “a few weeks,” a BT spokesman told us. Subscribers to services such as BTYahoo and BTInternet who try to access illegal sites will get an error message, the spokesman said. The telco will be able to register the number of times someone visits a site, but not details about visitors, he said. BT’s announcement sparked concern Mon. from other ISPs and civil rights advocates.
The Irish govt. this week announced plans to create a national register of next-generation 3G phones, aimed at safeguarding children. Communications Minister Dermot Ahern said that with 3G mobile phones capable of carrying video clips set to emerge later this year, children need more protection than is available with prepaid phones. “A national register of picture phones has proven impractical by virtue of the fact that we already had millions of GSM handsets in existence when picture-phones became available,” Ahern said: “But 3G is different.” Ahern said the govt. intends to work with the Irish Cellular Industry Assn. (ICIA) to establish the registry, and is trying to form a working group to develop proposals. However, he said, while he understands that industry wants to recoup infrastructure investment and doesn’t want to be saddled with onerous responsibilities, the need to protect children is an “absolute necessity.” Under the registry scheme, anyone who buys a 3G phone will have to provide name, address and other identifying information, a govt. spokesman told us. Asked whether the register could raise privacy or data protection concerns, the spokesman said any “privacy issues that might obtain would be no different to what currently applies.” Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner would oversee such issues, he said. As to whether Ahern expects industry opposition to his proposal, the spokesman said, “he has a very good working relationship with the mobile industry. He believes they understand why he is holding this view and the necessity for it.” ICIA Chmn. Joan Keating confirmed the group has had preliminary talks with the govt. However, she said, operators are “unclear about the usefulness of doing [the register] or what purpose it will serve.” Among the many details to be nailed down are how the accuracy of such a list can be ensured, how the information will be gathered, and who will pay for building and maintaining the register. Ireland now has 3.4 million mobile phones, with a penetration rate of 87% at the end of 2003, the govt. said. About 80% of Irish operators’ prepaid phone customers are already voluntarily registered under various incentive programs, Keating told us.
European Union (EU) countries should be required to implement radio spectrum trading and liberalization to spur more efficient use of spectrum, a report submitted this week to the European Commission said. However, it said, given the likelihood of wide divergence among member states in introducing spectrum trading, countries should be given wide latitude in deciding how their systems will work so long as national spectrum management regimes are coordinated across the EU. The report was prepared by Analysys, DotEcon and Hogan & Hartson. It’s up for discussion at a July 15 European Commission workshop in Brussels.
Telecom regulatory regimes vary greatly across Europe, though all original European Union (EU) member states were required to adopt the EU’s e-communications regulatory framework by last July, a European Competitive Telecom Assn. (ECTA) report said Tues. The scorecard, which surveyed the effectiveness of national telecom regulatory schemes in 10 of the original 15 member states at 2003’s end, also found widely differing levels of total investment by both incumbent telcos and new entrants, and a strong correlation between investment levels and regulatory effectiveness. Of the states studied -- the U.K., Ireland, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, France, Belgium and Germany -- the U.K. came out on top, while Germany was last. The assessments were based on 66 criteria divided into 5 areas: (1) General powers of a country’s national regulatory authority (NRA), including the speed of its process, transparency of its activities and degree of independence. (2) The effectiveness of a country’s dispute settlement body, including the speed with which it exercises its powers, its respect for due process, and the effectiveness of its sanctions. (3) The application of access rules allowing new entrants to tie into the networks of significant market power operators. (4) The existence and availability of key access products such as fixed voice interconnection, wholesale leased lines, fixed-to-mobile interconnection services, local loop unbundling (LLU), and wholesale DSL services. (5) Whether a country has fully and effectively implemented the EU’s new regulatory framework. The U.K. scored high in most areas, but was weak in LLU and in the speed of its Office of Communications’s (OFCOM’s) dispute settlement process. Germany ranked strongly in the use of due process in its dispute settlement program and in the availability of rights of way over public land for access but was weak in nearly all other categories. The ECTA report also analyzed the relationship between the scorecard results and investment numbers from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development, finding that as much as 90% of the variation among countries in investment levels can be explained by the quality of regulatory environment. Telecom spending per capita ranges from $236 in the U.K. to $86 in Germany, ECTA said. The report covers only 10 states because they were the ones for which new telecom entrants provided data by the cutoff date, said ECTA Regulatory Affairs Dir. Andy Tarrant. Tarrant said he hopes next year’s scorecard will cover all 15 original members as well as most of the 10 new states. It’s likely “it will only be with the 2nd report that all new entrants in the new member states will buy into the idea,” Tarrant said. However, he said, next year’s report will, at a minimum, cover the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. OFCOM didn’t comment by our deadline. A spokesman for the German NRA, the Regulatory Authority for Telecom & Post (Reg TP), said he couldn’t discuss Reg TP’s reaction to the scorecard because “we have not had the opportunity to study the report in detail yet.”
The U.K. govt. and its telecom regulator acknowledged Wed. competition in the country’s wholesale broadband market is weak, but said they're working on it. Responding to a Feb. 10 report by the Commons Trade & Industry Select Committee on the state of the market, the Dept. of Trade & Industry (DTI) and the Office of Communications (OFCOM) said they agreed with the panel’s findings. The responses, filed earlier this year, were released Wed. by the committee. To the panel’s concern that alternatives to British Telecom’s (BT’s) existing ADSL network won’t be widely available any time soon, DTI said cable companies’ investment in broadband- enabling networks is increasing. Moreover, it said, govt. policy provides “significant incentives” for 3G service rollouts by requiring mobile phone network operators to provide service to 80% of the population by 2007. OFCOM said one of its key objectives is to promote “the often substantial investment” needed for continued broadband deployment and upgrading infrastructure. The regulator will take appropriate actions to “create an environment where making these significant and risky investments can be appropriately rewarded,” it said. OFCOM is in the midst of a wholesale broadband access market review and will study the impact of next-generation telecoms networks, it said. The report questioned whether the govt. should invest more money in commercial broadband rollout rather than leaving it to market forces. DTI said Regional Development Agencies and Regional Aggregation Bodies will be key to bringing broadband to marginal communities by aggregating demand across the public sector. To the panel’s concern that further rollout will at some point be dependent on public sector bodies’ bringing “something to the table” -- causing BT to slow deployment to take advantage of public subsidies -- DTI said “this does not seem to be the case in practice.” Rather, it said, BT’s establishment of a trigger level program “has been remarkably effective” in increasing deployment. The committee report asked whether the market could deliver improvement in broadband speed. DTI said it expects to see next-generation services launched first in high-density urban areas, but the govt. “would not wish to down play the importance of lower-speed entry level products as a means of encouraging people to migrate from narrow band dial up Internet access to broadband.” In its response, OFCOM stressed it’s already doing several industry reviews in addition to the one on the wholesale broadband access market. But it agreed with the committee “that the time is right for a more fundamental review of the regulatory regime.” The committee report recommended that BT’s wholesale and retail arms not be split. DTI agreed, but OFCOM said it’s trying to determine the structure of the future regulatory framework, part of which is the way BT is regulated. DTI and OFCOM agreed it’s too early to consider a universal service obligation for broadband. The committee is satisfied with the responses, a spokesman told us, but may monitor the govt. and OFCOM to ensure they follow through. “It’s early days at OFCOM,” the spokesman said (the regulator took over from its 5 predecessors late last year). In Oct., the panel will take a look at the regulator’s telecom work, he said.
The U.K. Office of Communications (OFCOM) Thurs. announced steps aimed at boosting competition in “broaderband” data, voice and content services. The regulator: (1) Launched a market review consultation on local loop unbundling (LLU). (2) Published a final statement on its wholesale broadband access market review. (3) Said it will create the office of Telecoms Adjudicator to monitor the swift development of LLU processes. At the same time, incumbent British Telecom (BT) agreed to cut prices for its LLU products, saying it hoped the move would reduce the need for future regulation.