Brussels, 22/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Regulators Group (ERG) welcomed the stance taken by the European Parliament on Commission proposals to strengthen the independence of National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs), in its first reading discussions on the Telecoms package on 24 September. “NRAs have the relevant expertise to define and implement remedies tailored to their national markets,” said ERG Chairman Daniel Pataki, at the group's plenary session in Dublin on 9-10 October. “We trust the member states will back this approach when ministers meet to discuss the review in November,” he noted. The ERG also set out its position on a number of issues in the electronic communications sector. Among these were: 1) next generation networks (NGNs): the ERG shares the European Commission's view that predictable regulation is essential for ensuring competition and deployment of NGNs. This regulation has, however, to be more flexible than envisaged in the Commission's proposal in order to better fit the differing national circumstances; 2) mobile termination rates (MTRs): the ERG welcomes the recent MTR drop and notes that rates in the various member states are becoming more similar. With NRAs having defined realistic “glide-paths”, which should bring an average 1.7 euro cents reduction in MTRs by the second half of 2009, compared with July 2008 rates, the ERG believes, in response to the consultation procedure opened by the Commission on 26 June (see EUROPE 9691), that MTRs should fall by a further 40% over the next three years; 3) roaming: the ERG is continuing to assess the impact of European legislation on roaming tariffs. The report will be published at the end of 2008. (I.L./transl.rt)