Brussels, 29/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - On 27 November, European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes met a delegation of CEOs from several alternative telecommunications companies - members of ECTA (European Competitive Telecoms Association) - to discuss growth of this sector in Europe. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the annual conference held by ECTA (26-28 November 2012). The business people - CEOs from Cyta Hellas, Hellas Online, Iliad, Netia, Play, Versatel, Voxbone and WIND Telecomunicazioni - called on Kroes to ensure a fair environment for the construction of new generation networks - a balanced environment that respects the interests of historical operators as much as those of alternative operators. More particularly, they called on her to duly consider - in the recommendation that is soon to appear on investment in these networks - the central role that new operators have played in the fast growth of the internet broadband market. “Challenger telecoms have not only been the leading product innovators but also made broadband affordable for consumers, which in turn led to an exponential market growth and accelerated investments in broadband (…) Europe shoots itself in the foot if this growth generating competitive dynamic was weakened at a moment when we are desperate for economic growth”, said ECTA chairman, Tom Ruhan. Kroes promised to ensure a favourable and balanced environment. “I want to secure truly equivalent access by alternative operators to incumbent networks. That is probably the most important guarantee of sustainable competition. Overall, I think the Commission is supporting a balanced package for competition and investment”, she said. ECTA considers that the new operators are penalised by the excessive prices demanded by the historical operators for the use of the current networks, which prevents them from investing in fibre networks. (IL/transl.fl)