Report Says EU Still Far From Unified Telecom Market
June 1, 2010
| 12:03 PM
A new survey released Tuesday found that European telecommunications markets have become more competitive but also said European Union regulators are still far from achieving their goal of a unified telecom market.
The European Commission, the EU's regulatory arm, said its rules requiring EU member states to submit new telecom rules to the commission for review has led to less and more consistent regulation.
"The report highlights that implementation of EU telecom rules by national regulators under commission supervision has opened up telecoms markets to competition, bringing greater choice and cheaper prices to EU citizens and businesses," commission Vice President for Competition Joaquín Almunia said in a statement.
Still, the report said that EU member states continue to impose differing regulations on telecom providers. For example, the report found that some countries treat broadband providers who use fiber optic lines differently and calculate telecom interconnection costs differently. The report warned that such differing approaches could hamper the rollout of new technologies.
A single EU telecom market is one of the seven key goals included in the EU's "Digital Agenda," released last month, which also called for the deployment of high-speed Internet service of 30 megabits or higher for all EU citizens by 2020.
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