PARIS -- Large and small communications providers split Thurs. over regulating Internet-based services. AT&T said it accepts the need for “active oversight” of new services, but not rules. “Assuming the worst” about providers stifles innovation, said AT&T Senior Vp-Regulatory Planning & Policy Dorothy Attwood at the Global Forum here on digital convergence. But Marie Galere, an attorney for small rural providers, said strong regulation is needed to make the U.S. broadband deployment “myth” a reality.
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.
European mobile operators Tues. denied EC claims their high international roaming fees are forcing consumers to turn off their phones while traveling. Their response followed the release of a Eurobarometer survey showing a “clear majority” of users want the Commission to align roaming retail call and text message prices to local charges. But the GSM Assn. (GSMA) charged the EC with “peddling incorrect data” in order to regulate an already competitive market.
Deutsche Telekom’s (DT’s) energetic lobbying for relief from regulation while it deploys a new fiber network has not yet won over lawmakers studying proposed German telecom law amendments, we're told. Last week a committee of the Lower House of the German Federal Parliament held a public hearing on amendments. These included controversial Sec. 9a, which would set suspend controls on DT’s VDSL broadband network and on “new markets” in general, said telecom lawyer Axel Spies. Despite govt. support for the provision, it’s not a “done deal,” Spies said. The Economy & Technology Committee wants more time to deliberate, and postponed delivery of a recommendation to the Lower House until after the original date of Nov. 8. But panel likely will vote early enough to let the house vote on the bill in a Nov. 30-Dec. 1 session, with an Upper Chamber vote Dec. 15 -- though that timetable could slip, he said. “The incumbent is battling very hard on all fronts to obtain regulatory holidays,” Spies said on behalf of the German Competitive Carriers Assn. (VATM). The issue tops alternative providers’ agenda, he added.
The U.K. seems to be gaining support as it tries to limit potential damage from an EC proposal to regulate “nonlinear” -- on-demand -- AV services, Broadcast Minister Shaun Woodward told a Lords panel studying the legislation Wed. Only Slovakia has endorsed the U.K. idea of regulating only “TV-like” services under a revised TV without Frontiers (TVWF) directive, but Woodward hopes he and his colleagues have persuaded enough other EU countries that govt. control isn’t the way to deal with nonlinear services to soften the Commission proposal, he said.
The European Ombudsman is investigating claims that the EC violated O2’s right to defend itself against antitrust charges, the office said Mon. The Commission began looking into complaints about excessive mobile roaming charges in 2000; in 2004 it charged O2 with abusing a dominant market position. The mobile operator accused the EC of hampering its defense by not granting proper access to files and data, by failing to allow a reasonable time for O2 to respond to the allegations and by infringing the company’s right to be heard in the case. The ombudsman will decide if the EC committed maladministration. The Commission, which has until Dec. 31 to respond to the complaint, doesn’t think the allegations are well-founded, because “we have scrupulously respected their rights of defense,” a spokesman said Mon. The Competition Directorate General has a hearing officer whose role is to ensure that, he said.
The U.K. is trying to drum up EU govt support for a compromise excluding on-demand services from proposed EC draft revisions to the TV Without Frontiers (TVWF) directive, The Times reported Tues. The draft would apply traditional TV broadcasting rules to “linear” audiovisual (AV) media services -- including webcasting, streaming and Internet Protocol TV -- and set minimal rules for “non-linear"(on- demand) services, prompting fears it could squelch YouTube and other new offerings.
LONDON -- Because “regulation shapes markets,” it’s important that the U.K. and EU find the right balance between consumer and infrastructure protection on the one hand, and giving next-generation service providers enough leeway to innovate on the other, Britain’s Internet industry said here Thurs. The policy mix should include self-regulation as well as a focus on “digital choice,” others said at the parliamentary conference hosted by the All Party Internet Group.
Talks on an interim airline passenger name records (PNR) agreement ended in a win for Europeans when the U.S. agreed to a more scheme more protective of privacy, EC and Presidency officials said Fri. After a 9-hour session Thurs. night, the parties settled on an arrangement under which U.S. law enforcement agencies eventually will have to seek passenger data --including phone numbers and email addresses- - from airline databases. The old agreement let the U.S. accessing data directly. The shift to a “push” system generally was welcomed, but data protection authorities and some European Parliament members said the temporary PNR doesn’t resolve major privacy concerns.
A deal on transfer of airline passenger name records (PNRs) could come Fri., an EU Council of Ministers spokesman told us Wed. A previous pact, under which European airlines gave passenger data to U.S. authorities, lapsed Sept. 30; since then talks have been on and off. EU member states’ permanent representatives are being briefed this week on the matter, the spokesman said. The Council gave a “green light” to an EU Presidency/EC proposal to encourage talks, he said. No one is discussing the recommendation’s substance. A videoconference today (Thurs.) will bring together U.S. and EU representatives. If they concur, the Council will approve the plan Fri. If not, talks go on. A “best guess” is that the Council will announce agreement Fri. morning, the spokesman said, stressing that as a personal opinion. U.S. Homeland Security Secy. Michael Chertoff has assured EC Vp Franco Frattini that the U.S. is willing for now to keep applying the privacy safeguards in the expired pact, Frattini’s spokesman said Wed.
Broadcasters Mon. moved closer to updated broadcasting protections as delegates to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) General Assembly in Geneva voted to hold a diplomatic conference Nov.19-Dec. 7, 2007. A week-plus of wrangling (CD Sept 29 p5) produced a compromise broadcasters and consumer representatives both claimed as a victory, but which left a host of sticky issues unresolved.