Brussels, 07/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the European telecoms operators repeated their call to the European Commission for an in-depth review of the regulatory framework on electronic communication, given the rapid changes experienced by the sector. The emergence of a new generation of networks and the obstacles to their development were the theme of a conference held on 31 May by the European Telecommunications Network Operators, ETNO, which was attended by Commissioner Viviane Reding , who is in charge of the Information Society and Media. The newer generation of networks is a fantastic opportunity for business and users, but there are serious challenges to face up to and will require significant investments if it is to be deployed effectively. The operators have called upon the European Union to a oversee the creation of an appropriate regulatory framework, which will reassure investors, which is not currently the case: "the entire regulatory environment needs to be revised to make it more progressive, allow it to anticipate change and to encourage the investments which tomorrow's networks will require. Given the dynamism and speed of changes at play in the sector, by the time the new regulation is in place, tomorrow's trends will be yesterday's reality", said ETNO's director, Michael Bartholomew. The telecommunications sector is heading towards a convergence of platforms and increased competition: new operators, which are not subject to the same rules, offer more and more telecommunications services, whilst traditional operators are trying to diversify their products and penetrate other markets, ETNO continues, recommending an approach based on deregularisation, to create a sector which is guided by market forces and subject to general competition rules.