[A2k] article-EC Wants Veto Over National Telecom Rules,

[jeff@democraticmedia.org]

Communications Daily (US), June 12, 2006
More Spectrum Oversight?

EC Wants Veto Over National Telecom Rules, Reding Says

 The European Commission is seeking a larger oversight role for telecom,
said Viviane Reding, EU
Comr. for Information & Media, during a closed-door EU meeting Thurs. in
Luxembourg.  Meeting attendees
said she indicated the EC, for example, wants the ability to veto
competition rules of individual countries that
don't fully carry out EU decisions.  We're told Germany, which is arguing
with the EC over broadband rules for
Deutsche Telekom, immediately resisted the proposal.

 During their meeting Thurs., EU telecom ministers also discussed Reding's
proposal for creating a single market
for spectrum management, attendees said.  Reding has never made a secret
of her desire to increase cross-border spectrum
management;  radio frequency allocation has been strictly national.  The
spectrum management discussions were occa-
sionally loud, we're told.  Large parts of the spectrum have been freed by
the switch from analog to digital services.

 The EC is very interested in greater harmonization of spectrum
management, to avoid problems of interfer-
ence for cross border services.  But with competition for new services
increasingly fierce, radio spectrum has be-come an extremely bankable
commodity.  The sale of spectrum licenses for 3G mobile phones earned the
U.K.
govt. =8032 billion and Germany =8045 billion.  During the occasionally hea=
ted
discussion, EC nations made it clear
that it's unlikely they will hand over total control of such a lucrative
cash cow, officials said.

 Meanwhile, the ongoing review of the telecom regulatory framework is a
unique opportunity to adapt it to
the changing realities of the European market and to accelerate the
transition toward a reliance on market forces,
chief executives of major European telecom firms said Wed. in meetings
with Reding and Neelie Kroes, EU comr.
for competition.  They highlighted the growing convergence of platforms
and services.

 The executives said the changing market realities put more pressure on
traditional operators to invest and
innovate, while persisting ex-ante regulation is a burden in a competitive
and global market.  In their meeting, they
urged the EC to focus on ensuring consumer welfare and stimulate
investment in new networks and asked it not to
discourage investment in online media by extending traditional audiovisual
rules to new on-demand services.

 No nonlinear services should continue to be covered by the e-Commerce
Directive, the executives told the
EC officials.  They complained that systematically imposing access
obligations to networks won't encourage invest-
ments in alternative infrastructure or additional competition. -- Israel
Rafalovich