Brussels, 27/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Friday, the European Commission decided to open infringement proceedings against Greece, Portugal and Germany for failing to ensure that competitors are offered access to the local loop.
The Commission argues that in the case of Portugal, the reference offer for shared access does not include tariffs for the service and therefore cannot be regarded as a full offer. In Greece, no offer for shared access had yet been published and the Commission believes that proceedings should be brought against these countries for failure to ensure the offer of a shared access service to which the market is entitled. In the case of Germany, while the incumbent already had 1.2 million customers for its high-speed internet access service, neither shared access not wholesale access to the incumbent's DSL service were offered. Even though a significant number of local loops have been fully unbundled, the vast majority are used not for the provision of high-speed access but rather for voice telephony. The first mover advantage that this represents is very worrying in terms of the risk of foreclosure of competition in broadband access. This concern is borne out by the recent finding of the Germany Monopoly commission (Monopol Kommission) that virtually all DSL lines in Germany are currently held by the incumbent (99% at the end of 2000 and estimated at virtually 100% at the end of 2001), leading to a new monopoly situation in this market. The Monopoly Commission pointed at the beginning of December to line-sharing as the means of opening competition in this market segment.