The European Commission has sent a letter to the German telecoms regulator, Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA), calling on it to make the provision of fixed subscriber lines more competitive. Today the market is still dominated by the incumbent operator, Deutsche Telekom (DT). While Deutsche Telekom's offer means that other operators can sell-on to consumers the use of land lines that they have leased from the incumbent, Deutsche Telekom charges these operators the same price as it does its own consumers. This makes it harder for alternative operators to offer consumers a competitive deal. The Commission wants the German regulator to oblige DT to make its land lines available to other telecoms operators. It also asks BNetzA to supervise wholesale prices for alternative operators providing competing services using Deutsche Telekom's network.

 

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Source: Europa

 

Comreg gas published a document for a consultation considering the regulatory approach most appropriate to facilitate the development and deployment of a Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) with a Complementary Ground Component (CGC), following the ratification of European Commission (EC) Decisions1 and the completion of the EC selection process2. The MSS with CGC system is intended to operate in the same frequency bands which were allocated to the MSS in the 2 GHz frequency range. 

 

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Source: Comreg

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During a conference on Universal Service, ANCOM has announced that the first stage of the new Universal Service strategy implementation has been completed. The Universal Service is a minimum set of electronic communications services, made available, upon request, to all end-users, at affordable prices and at a certain quality level, irrespective of their geographic location on the territory of an EU Member State. The Universal Service is a right of all the European Union’s citizens and the state The first stage of the implementation of the new Universal Service strategy consisted of a study undertaken in view of identifying the localities where electronic communications networks need to be rolled out.  According to the study, there are currently in Romania two villages (with a total of 140 inhabitants living in 45 households) which do not benefit from any telephone services. As soon as the technical aspects are clarified and the ANCOM decisions on Universal Service are amended, the Authority will designate one or more Universal Service providers which will ensure a connection capable to uphold the provision of telephone services (including emergency calls) and of broadband services (i.e. up to 1Mbps), taking into consideration the principles of efficiency, non-discrimination, technological neutrality and minimum market distortion.needs to intervene where the access to the minimum set of communications services is not ensured by the market mechanisms.

 

 

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Source : Ancom

Commencing on 7 December 2009, the Commission will hold a public hearing in order to prepare a report to thegovernment on the implications and advisability of implementing a compensation regime for the value of local television signals. For more information or to listen to the hearing through live audio feed, please visit the CRTC website.

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Source : CRTC

Europe's telecoms rules aim to progressively reduce sector specific regulation as competition develops in the market. The roll-out of next generation access networks which brings high speed broadband services to consumers poses new challenges for regulators to prevent new market monopolies. The Commission will issue a Recommendation on the regulation of next generation access networks in spring 2010 to ensure a consistent approach for regulating these new services.

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Source: Europa

The European Commission has given its green light to the amended definition of the wholesale broadband access market (WBA) notified by the Austrian regulator RTR (Rundfunk und Telekom Regulierungs GmbH). On 5 October 2009, the Commission had expressed serious doubts about the market definition as originally notified by RTR on 3 September 2009. RTR has now provided sufficient evidence that mobile broadband connections are substitutes to fixed line broadband connections for Austrian residential customers. RTR has also modified its wholesale market definition and now excludes all bitstream access for residential customers from regulation. Nevertheless, the Commission invites RTR to closely monitor market developments and to change the market definition if its forecasts on the continued substitutability of fixed and mobile broadband products and next generation access network (NGA) roll-out prove to be incorrect.

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Source: Europa

 

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission  determined that Globalive Wireless Management (Globalive) does not meet the Canadian ownership requirements set out in the Telecommunications Act. Under the legislation, a telecommunications company is only eligible to operate in Canada if it is not at any time owned and controlled, in law and in fact, by non-Canadians. Today’s decision follows a public process that included a public hearing, which was held on September 23, September 24 and October 1, 2009.

 

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Source: CRTC

"Termination rates in Poland still vary highly between mobile phone operators. UKE must do more to reduce this asymmetry and to apply the same price regulation to all four mobile operators. Allowing P4 to charge termination rates that do not reflect true costs does not give the company the right incentive to become an efficient operator and does not allow Polish consumers to benefit from lower prices for mobile calls," said Viviane Reding, the EU Telecoms Commissioner.

Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said, "Lower termination rates will decrease retail prices for mobile voice calls to the immediate benefit of consumers. New entrants may be exceptionally allowed to charge higher rates to reach a minimum efficient scale. However, to limit distortions of competition, such exemptions may only be granted for a limited period of time and should not exceed four years from the date of market entry, as provided by our Termination Rates Recommendation."

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Source: Europe's Information Society

 “ The EU telecoms reform will bring more competition on Europe’s telecoms markets, better and cheaper fixed, mobile and internet services and faster internet connections for all Europeans. Thanks to the strong support of the European Parliament today, Europe has put citizens in the centre stage in telecoms regulation”, said Viviane Reding, the EU’s Telecoms Commissioner . ”It is good news for Europe’s consumers that the new powerful tool of functional separation will help national regulators to address persistent competition bottlenecks in telecoms markets, thereby enhancing consumer choice. I am also grateful that the European Parliament has supported the Commission in helping to bring about a more integrated single market in the telecoms field. The establishment of the new European Telecoms Body BEREC, the institutional set-up of which has been substantially designed by European Parliamentarians, is a very visible sign that we are serious when we say that Europe’s telecoms operators and consumers should no longer feel national borders in network access and the delivery of communication services. A true single market for Europe’s telecoms operators and consumers is now within reach. ”

On the 12 most important reforms of the new EU telecoms package , see MEMO/09/513

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Source: Europe's Information Society

Telecommunications operators are divided over new proposals meant to promote fair competition and guard against abuse of market power. Of particular contention is a clause that calls for a 30-day notice to the Communication Commission of Kenya before any tariff changes, and another one touching on the definition of a dominant operator.

Safaricom raised the issue that the two clauses were specifically targeting the company and would undermine its ability to compete effectively, adding that they should be deleted. Safaricom's head of legal and regulatory affairs Nzioka Waita said the way the regulator defines a dominant operator targets Safaricom as a company.

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Source: Balancing Act - Africa

The Latvian regulator SPRK (Sabiedrisko Pakalpojumu Regulešanas Komisija) proposes to oblige the provision of call-by-call selection, pre-selection and a price control on the incumbent operator Lattelecom because it has significant market power (SMP) in the retail access markets. SPRK does not, however, want to impose the provision of wholesale line rental (WLR).

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Source: Europe's Information Society