EU Commission proposes a single European Telecoms Market

On 13 November the EU Commission adopted proposals for a reform of the EU telecoms rules.

In a press release they say:

"From today onwards, a single market without borders for Europe's telecoms operators and consumers is no longer only a dream," said José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission.

"Telecoms is a field where our single market can bring about very concrete results for every citizen in terms of more choice and lower prices, whether for mobile phones or for broadband internet connections. At the same time, a single market with 500 million consumers opens new opportunities for telecoms operators – if Europe helps to ensure effective competition and consistent rules of the game. This is why we act today. A more European regulatory approach is particularly justified in telecoms. After all airwaves know no borders. And the internet protocol has no nationality."

A "New Deal" for radio spectrum – the lifeblood of all wireless communication services – to spur investment into new infrastructures and to ensure "broadband access for everyone". In rural areas of the EU, only 72% of the population on average have broadband access.

The Commission wants to overcome this "digital divide" by better managing radio spectrum and by making spectrum available for wireless broadband services in regions where building a new fibre infrastructure is too costly. The switchover from analogue to digital TV will free a substantial amount of radio spectrum (the so-called "digital dividend") that can be used for this purpose.

Press Release
http://www.europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?
reference=IP/07/1677&format=HTML&aged=0&
language=EN&guiLanguage=en

An associated document Digital Dividend: New airwaves for new wireless services says

Airwaves do not stop at national borders. 27 national systems for one resource cannot work. Consequently investments in new wireless technologies are now mostly conducted at a European or global scale. So if Europe is to avail of this once in a lifetime opportunity and make optimal use of the digital dividend, there can be one, and only one, approach.

EU Telecoms reform
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/
itemlongdetail.cfm?item_id=3701

The digital dividend: New airwaves for new wireless services
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/doc/
factsheets/tr7-digitaldividend.pdf

A recent article by the Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards in the Financial Times questioned the direction in which the EU Commission is moving

Financial Times: A central telecoms regulator would hurt Europe
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/november2007/
central_telecoms_regulator.htm