Strasbourg, 26/10/2000 (Agence Europe) - By adopting, with 398 votes form 21 against and 41 abstentions, the report by the British Liberal Nicholas Clegg, the European Parliament massively voted for the effective and rapid liberalisation of the fixed local telephone networks, until now held by the former monopolies that used this competitive advantage to slow the development of their competitors. The Parliament thus approved the draft regulation relating to the unbundling of access to local loops, with 18 amendments that were issued, as was reminded by the rapporteur during the press conference, from both the Industry Committee and the Council. In principal, these amendments should thus be adopted by the Council, which enables the rapid adoption, in a single reading, of this text (codecision procedure Parliament/Council).
Mr Clegg welcomed this measure that will force the former monopolies to give access, for the new operators, to the local loop, while underlining that this will enable to reinforce competition and to lower prices for consumers. He also spoke of the numerous advantages of this measure, Commissioner Erkki Liikanen insisted on the importance to favour the rapid development of the Internet in Europe. "Today's decision is a major step in the building of an eEurope. Increased competition means cheaper access to the Internet for European consumers and a faster development of DSL technologies (digital subscriber lines)". He indicated that the European Commission accepts all of the 18 amendments that "clarify the text" of the proposal. After having recalled that the Commission had chosen to present a regulation proposal to guarantee its immediate application, he welcomed to political will that, since the European Council in Lisbon, has not been denied and enabled to move forward very quickly, while the Community procedures are usually very long. "It is the first dossier of such importance that is closed so quickly", he said when underlining that the unbundling would be effective as of 1 January 2001. Austria, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Italy and the Netherlands have already got national legislation on the unbundling of the local loop. According to Clegg, Ireland and Belgium are especially behind.
The text present to the plenary by the rapporteur resulted from a dialogue with the Council. The main amendments to the "recitals" concerning:
i) the guarantee of universal service and access at an affordable price, the intensification of competition, economic efficiency and user benefits, ii) greater precision in the concepts of the local loop and the incumbent operator, iii) the publication by the operator notified of a detailed offer for the unbundling in the relatively short period.
The main amendments of the regulation Articles are: i) the addition to the scope of the text, to reinforce competition, encourage innovation, favour the supply of a wide range of services, ii) additional definitions, including those of unbundled access, totally unbundled or shared, iii) the obligation for incumbent operators to publish before 31 December 2000 an offer of reference and accede to reasonable demands as of that date, iv) the monitoring by the national regulatory authority, whose competence is widely described. In annex, the industry Committee added a minimum list of elements that must be in the offer of reference.