European telcos are said to be mulling creation of a new search engine for mobile users. The U.K.’s Sunday Telegraph reported over the weekend that Deutsche Telekom, Telecom Italia, France Telecom, Hutchison Whampoa, Telefonica and U.S. company Cingular will hold secret talks on the plan during the Feb. 12-15 3GSM conference in Barcelona. A spokesman for U.K. mobile media company 3, a Hutchison unit, said the effort arose from the GSM Assn. (GSMA), which set up a group to study the idea. Because 3 has contracts with Google and Yahoo, it won’t pursue the possibility in a big way, the spokesman said. A GSMA spokesman wouldn’t confirm 3’s statement. A representative for Telefonica’s O2 said the company isn’t “in a position to comment on the stories at this stage.”
The EC may create a “European FCC” to harmonize telecom rules across the 27 EU nations. National regulatory authorities (NRAs) have until mid-Feb. to react to Information Society & Media Comr. Viviane Reding’s proposal. NRAs are said to be split over creating a super-regulator; The head of their official body, European Regulators Group (ERG), said Tues. it’s too soon to tell.
The European Court of First Instance Tues. upheld a
A Deutsche Telekom (DT) request to hike local loop unbundling (LLU) fees has competitors seething. Last week DT filed a motion with telecom regulator BNetzA seeking 13% more a loop monthly to cover higher personnel costs, lawyer Axel Spies said Tues. The incumbent said the boost would encourage competitors to build out infrastructure of their own. If approved, the new rate will be 12.06 ($15.69). The LLU charge in Germany expiring in the spring is 10.68 -- already higher than in some EU countries, Spies said. “Given the international benchmarks for this important fee, the price increase should be rejected,” Spies said on behalf of the German Competitive Carriers Assn. (VATM). DT is wrong to cite personnel costs, because its staff includes former govt. officials whose positions are protected by law and members of strong trade unions, he said. As the telecom industry becomes leaner, DT shouldn’t be allowed to burden rivals with the expense of a failed personnel policy, Spies said. For them, the monthly LLU fee is the “mother of all charges,” he said: An increase would lead to price rises on telecom services across the board. The cap in the recent AT&T/BellSouth merger agreement for access to the local loop was equal to about 9 for a much larger territory than DT’s, Spies said.
The EU seems bound for consensus on an international mobile roaming rule, though key provisions remain fuzzy, European Parliament (EP) members and an EC official said Tues. A joint hearing by the EP internal market & consumer protection and industry, research & energy committees found strong support -- even from some mobile operators -- for wholesale and/or retail price caps. Unresolved issues include how to set caps and whether they'll also apply to cross-border SMS and data transmissions.
Deutsche Telekom (DT) denied reports it’s shelving plans for a VDSL fiber network. A Jan. 12 Financial Times Deutschland article had “persons familiar with the matter” saying the incumbent decided to offer IP-based services over a cheaper ADSL2+ platform. That’s correct, a DT spokesman told us, but the VDSL network isn’t being jettisoned. The plan was to deploy fiber in 50 cities -- it’s in 10 -- then assess options for the rest of Germany. DT is looking at how to use ADSL to provide IPTV services, he said. A report characterized the move to ADSL as a reflection of DT’s need to offer mass-market IPTV to counter its slowing fixed-line business. DT recently won a break from competition rules as it builds the VDSL network, thanks to a Telecom Act change allowing regulatory holidays for “new services.” “We're still on track” for that, the DT spokesman said. News about the ADSL network confirms what rivals have said for months, telecom lawyer Axel Spies said on behalf of the German Competitive Carriers’ Assn. (VATM). If ADSL services can be substituted for VDSL, VDSL services aren’t new and don’t warrant regulatory relief under the telecom law, he said.
French telco Free is seeking more than 500 million from France Telecom (FT) on claims that antitrust violations blocked it from rolling out ADSL services, costing it about
A German antiterror law taking effect Thurs. gives 3 secret service agencies more access to telecoms’ and other companies’ records, Bingham attorney Axel Spies said. No specific suspicion is needed; access simply must be needed for “clearing up anticonstitutional activities,” he said on behalf of the German Competitive Carriers Assn. (VATM). Agencies can use tools that find locations of makers and recipients of mobile calls. The new law makes it easier to get data on individuals, plus customer and user data from telcos and others. There is parliamentary oversight, but the process has been streamlined, over protests by Germany’s data protection authority, Spies said. He predicted notable rises in requests for telcos and ISPs to deliver data and other information on customers, as well as a cost increase to service providers.
A rule capping European international mobile roaming rates could apply in June if the European Parliament (EP) and member states reach accord, Information Society & Media Comr. Viviane Reding said Thurs. Key aspects of the draft remain unsettled, but Reding urged lawmakers and govts. to move quickly. “This is a test case” that will let citizens judge EU institutions’ capacity to make good on promises or can be “stopped by the big industrial powers,” she told an EP hearing on implications of international roaming for consumers and industry.
Among German priorities in assuming the EU Presidency Jan. 1 will be progress on revising the EU e-communications regulatory framework (NRF), its work program says. Telecom experts disputed whether Germany’s tense relations with the EC over controversial national legislation poised to grant Deutsche Telekom (DT) a regulatory break for its new fiber networks could stymie that progress.