Brussels, 30/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - Review of the European Commission recommendation on relevant markets, due in coming months, should lead to a reduction in the number of markets to be regulated and to fundamental change in the regulation of broadband. That is the opinion expressed by the Association of European Telecommunications Network Operators (ETNO), whose arguments are based on the findings of a study carried out by Plum Consulting, unveiled on 25 April during the ETNO-MLex Regulatory Summit. “The European telecommunications sector is at a crossroad. (…) We need a single European market for telecommunications. Completion of the single market would have beneficial impact across the sector and the EU economy as a whole. (…) We need to act fast, and we are eager to collaborate with the Commission to exploit this great opportunity”, said Luigi Gambardella, Chairman of the Executive Board of ETNO.
The European telecommunications sector has, for several years, suffered a fall in revenue and competitiveness compared to other global markets in constant growth. This trend must be reversed with the setting in place of a more stable regulatory framework, that is more favourable to investment and more visionary, ETNO reiterates. According to the Plum Consulting study, review of the recommendation, whose latest update goes back to 2007, must reduce the number of markets subject to regulation, especially the retail market for access to the fixed telephone network which does not suffer from any competition problems. A new approach, moreover, must be adopted to regulate wholesale access, which takes into account all existing competitive platforms at the level of retail access (including mobile cable networks and new generation networks), in line with the principle of technological neutrality. National regulators must also be responsible for determining the geographical differences within a national market in order to focus on regulation in non-competitive zones. “This review must have sufficient foresight to take into account the growing competition from new online applications and alternative platforms. The new regulatory approach should be flexible and focus on real bottlenecks”, explains ETNO Dirctor Daniel Pataki. (IL/transl.jl)