EU telecom ministers Thurs. approved slashing international mobile roaming rates. The regulation is to take effect on publication in the EU Official Journal -- expected July 29 -- after a long, fractious debate among the EC, European Parliament and Council. Mobile operators then will have a month to alert customers to the new retail “Eurotariff” or offer better packages and switch them to their choice within a month. Consumers who respond will get the Eurotariff after 3 months. The rule sets a maximum price of 0.49 for placing and 0.24 for receiving calls the first year. In year 2, the rates drop to 0.46/0.22; year 3, to
EU govts. will delay a decision on beleaguered global positioning satellite system Galileo until Oct., a Council of Ministers spokeswoman said Wed. The Transport Council was to decide this week on a way forward on the project but now will ask the EC for more information on various funding proposals it laid out last month (CD May 17 p6), she said. The EC contested reports that Galileo will cost far more than planned.
BRUSSELS -- Better coordination among national spectrum regulators is preferable to more-sweeping EC harmonization plans, the incoming Portuguese Presidency said here Tues. at the European Spectrum Management conference. Spectrum usage is an “important political subject that goes beyond the technical issues and for that reason difference points of view have to be considered,” Public Works & Communications Secy. of State Paulo Campos said via a representative. Pan- EU licensing is appropriate only to create a framework for licensing conditions and for pan-European services, he said.
BRUSSELS -- The European spectrum debate is shifting from principles to practicalities, speakers said here Tues. at session of the European Spectrum Management Conference 2007. There’s less focus on absolute doctrines --command- and-control, market or common usage -- more recognition that one-size-fits-all management won’t work, they said. Despite that, however, those expecting easy resolution of spectrum issues were “totally wrong,” said Gerard Pogorel, economics prof. at l'Ecole National Superieure des Telecommunications in Paris.
The EC should be Europe’s telecom super-regulator, Information Society & Media Comr. Viviane Reding plans to say today (Fri.) at a broadband conference in Greece. Her proposals for revamping the 2003 e-communications regulatory framework won’t emerge until late Oct., but Reding will say for the first time that she believes the Commission, not the European Regulators Group (ERG), should oversee telecom regulation, with national regulatory authorities (NRAs) as advisors.
The European Parliament’s (EP’s) overwhelmingly support for a cap on international mobile roaming rates was as much about its own power and legitimacy in European consumers’ eyes as its desire to cut calling rates, lawmakers said Wed. The first-reading plenary vote -- which came after months of intense negotiations among the EP, the European Council of Ministers and the EC -- showed EU institutions can get things done, said Information Society & Media Comr. Viviane Reding.
Deutsche Telekom (DT) sought regulatory approval Tues. for a 90% hike in the one-time fee it charges rivals for an unbundled loop or line-sharing connection, said Axel Spies, a lawyer representing the German Competitive Carriers Assn. (VATM). “Given that there’s almost no competition from broadband cable or from alternative access technologies such as satellite or powerline in Germany, these charges are crucial for new customers that obtain DSL and other services via unbundled loops,” he said. DT competitors say nothing justifies a 90% rise and that the fee should fall at least 30% due to the telco’s efficiency gains, he said. VATM also worries about reports that DT plans to cut the price for its DSL flat-rate package for Internet plus fixed-line calls in Germany to 35-50 per month as of June 1, Spies said. If that occur and regulator BNetzA grants the connection fee rise, he said, rivals will be caught in a “price squeeze” between DT’s lower DSL charges for its own end-user services and higher pass-through fees that competitors providing their own DSL services must charge customers to be hooked up via line-sharing or unbundling to DT’s network, Spies said. BNetzA has until July 29 to act. Consultant Analysys has said connection charges are up to 60% higher in Germany than elsewhere in Europe, he said.
The European Parliament industry committee unanimously approved a compromise package on international mobile roaming rates late Mon. It caps retail outgoing rates at 49 eurocents, incoming rates at 24 eurocents for 2007; the charges then drop to 46 and 22 eurocents next year, 43 and 19 in 2009. Wholesale rates between mobile operators begin at 30 eurocents per minute this year, decreasing to 28 in 2008 and 26 eurocents in 2009. All consumers will be free to switch to or from the “Eurotariff” within one month after the regulation goes into effect. Those who haven’t done so at the end of another 2 months will receive the rate automatically. The text, which has also won Council backing, will be voted on in plenary session later this week. If it’s approved, telecom ministers are expected to ratify it when they meet June 7.
Portugal’s communications minister doesn’t want a unified EU telecom regulator, despite media reports to the contrary, according to an unofficial translation of a May 10 ministry release. Mario Lino, minister for public works, transport & communications, was quoted as saying that creating a super-regulator would be a priority for the Portuguese EU Presidency, which assumes office July 1 (CD May 11 p2). But the govt. said Lino hadn’t discussed creation of such a body.
The EC moved Wed. to take control of flagging satellite navigation system Galileo, proposing that its infrastructure be funded with public money because no industry consortium charged with building and launching most of the satellites coalesced. Transport Comr. Jacques Barrot brushed aside suggestions the multibillion euro project isn’t economically viable, telling a briefing that industry’s “chomping at the bit” to develop applications for Galileo once its structure is in place. Inmarsat, Galileo’s operator, questioned whether EU countries will ante up as needed to get the project off the ground, but industry said generally it’s pleased with the EC proposal.