Brussels, 15/05/2008 (Agence Europe) - There are only a million subscribers to FTTH (fibre-to-the-home) technology in the whole of Europe, compared with 3 million in the US and 7 million in Asia, according to telecoms incumbents' association ETNO, which says that Europe clearly lacks an effective strategy for deploying networks for accessing new generation technology, which requires investment of around €300 billion to get up to speed. Some 70-odd experts met up in Brussels last week at an event organised by ETNO to discuss the best regulatory approach to developing new generation networks. The revised directives in the telecoms package being considered by the European Commission and studied by the European Parliament should take the following into account: 1) geographical fragmentation: national regulators should be encouraged to consider different solutions for different geographical areas. Regulation should only be applied to areas where networks are not being deployed and to markets in areas which are already competitive; 2) access to infrastructure allowing fibre optic cables to be deployed: most investment in the introduction of new generation networks goes to build suitable infrastructure and therefore the opening and use of existing infrastructure is strongly recommended; 3) competing on the basis of infrastructure: regulating access should only be considered when competition on the basis of infrastructure is impossible and would not allow access to the physical part of networks, like cables; 4) price flexibility and risk sharing: the regulatory environment should ensure price flexibility and the sharing of risks among network operators and operators asking for access, in order to create an investment-friendly environment. The rules that currently apply to telecoms were defined for an industry that has totally changed and should now be changed to match the new challenges being faced and encourage high risk investment in high speed broadband networks, commented ETNO president Michael Bartholomew. (I.L.)