Brussels, 29/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - On 24 July the European Commission took a Decision that will lead to the removal of obligations on certain telecommunications network operators to provide leased lines. Leased lines are used by large companies to create in-house company networks. Small and medium sized enterprises and institutions use them to link up to the Internet and network operators and service providers also use them to link up their facilities. As such they are essential building blocks of the information society. Following the successful liberalisation of electronic communications, there is now competitive supply of leased lines in the EU. Consequently the need to require provision of these leased line services nation-wide in the Member States is decreasing.
Since 1993, Member States have been required to ensure that a minimum set of leased lines is available throughout their territory, from at least one network operator - typically the incumbent. The minimum set of leased lines defined at EU level includes 5 different types of line with speeds up to 2 Mbit/s. The technical specifications of these 5 types of leased lines are laid down in standards agreed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). Since liberalisation of the telecommunications market in 1998, there is competitive supply of leased lines in many markets - in particular on high density long distance routes. Consequently the need for mandating provision of these leased line services nation-wide is decreasing, indicated the Commission.
In the context of the new regulatory framework for electronic communications that is due to be applied in all Member States from 25 July 2003, the former leased lines Directive with its rigid provisions regarding mandatory provision of the minimum set of leased lines is repealed, and a more flexible approach is put in place. One of the principles of the new framework is that regulation must be removed when competition is delivering the desired result. In the case of leased lines, this means that national regulatory authorities in the Member States will be able to remove the obligation for an operator to provide some or all of the leased line types in the minimum set where market analysis shows that there is effective competition in the relevant leased line market. In doing its market analysis, the national regulatory authority can take into account the geographical dimension, so if competition is effective in some areas but not others, the obligation to provide leased lines can be maintained only in those areas where competition is not effective.