Brussels, 11/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission welcomed the “positive signs of progress” shown by the European Parliament after voting in parliamentary committees on the Trautmann, del Castillo Vera and Harbour reports on the telecoms package (see EUROPE 9699). Although Commissioner Reding welcomes the fact that the idea of functional separation has been chosen as the ultimate remedy, she regrets the lack of ambition with regard to spectrum reform. Management of this remains in the hands of member states but they must coordinate their action with a view to greater harmonisation, MEPs say. “I shall therefore continue to work on this with the European Parliament and the Council in coming weeks so that further progress can be made before September”, the Commissioner said. Ms Reding is also unsure about the creation of the European body of European regulators (BERT) instead of a European telecommunications authority, stressing that, although the “intentions behind the idea are good”, the procedure foreseen for its operation could be slow and unwieldy. “A lot of further work is indispensable”, the commissioner said. Finally, on the subject of the Harbour report, Viviane Reding regretted that “one of the commissioner's key proposals to oblige operators to warn consumers when their private data are compromised has been watered down”.
The traditional operators, meeting within ETNO (the European Telecommunications Network Operators' association), remain generally unconvinced by the compromise shaping up, saying that several amendments will promote regulatory intervention on markets that are already competitive. Although they welcome a more targeted text on a key question such as the fragmentation of geographical markets, they find it regrettable that the obligation of access to the network for new generation networks would be kept. The access obligation should be examined on a case by case basis, ETNO says, calling moreover for a balanced sharing of risks between investors and those requesting access. The inclusion of functional separation as a remedy is also regrettable, as it discourages investment and is not the right approach for promoting competition based on infrastructure. ETNO also fears that specific provisions on the neutrality of networks would limit innovation and investment in the new networks. Provisions relating to content also go too far to ETNO's taste: - if the fight against piracy is necessary, it is not up to operators to take measures.
The reaction of ECTA, European Competitive Telecommunications Association, which groups new operators, is also mitigated but obviously for contrasting reasons. In their view, several amendments protect the achievements of traditional operators. When it comes to unbundling the local loop, the rules should remain applicable for new optical fibre networks without exception, but the text provides for derogations if the prices and access conditions are reasonable. ECTA believes such exemptions open the way to reconstitution of monopolies. The new operators also reject ETNO's argument whereby rules provided discourage investment in new networks. According to ECTA statistics, traditional operators will reduce their costs by 30% to develop optical fibre networks as they already have the necessary infrastructure for their installation. ECTA also deplores the fact that the concept of fair return on investment for dominant companies has been replaced by the risk-sharing concept. The effect of this concept will be to further “decrease the risk for dominant players and increase the costs and risk for competitors with substantially lower revenues and profits”. (I.L./transl.jl)