Brussels, 12/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - ECTA, the European Competitive Telecommunications Association, is campaigning for limited changes to the list of relevant telecommunications markets for which ex-ante regulation can, a priori, be justified in all member states, with the European Commission engaged in a revision of the recommendation of 17 December 2007. On the basis of the results of the study published on 12 February of this year by Webb Henderson and SPC Network, taking stock of the competitive situation on the telecoms markets, ECTA calls on the Commission to keep the current regulatory model in place, as this promotes competition. Regulation remains essential in order to guarantee competitive gains and the benefits offered to consumers by the current framework, particularly against the backdrop of transition to new-generation access networks, argues ECTA, which criticises the persistent dominance of the former monopolies on the wholesale markets. “We are among the global leaders in broadband performance and our network investments are progressing at a steady pace. So why change a regime that is working well? I say: 'review', yes, 'overhaul', no”, says Tom Ruhan, Chairman of ECTA. On 24 January 2014, the Commission published a draft revision of the recommendation on the relevant markets, which it put to the European group of regulators, ORECE, for its opinion. (IL/transl.fl)