Seamless pan-EU e-communications services (PECS) could boost Euro...

that that telecom controls hobble efforts to boost productivity and competitiveness as a result of information and communication technology investment by blocking provision of pan-EU services to major business users, analysts said. Multinationals that want to centralize business processes can’t do so for lack of choice in suppliers meeting their requirements, and the PECS supply is fragmented, often costly, and subject to differing service and provisioning times, Indepen said. International mobile roaming costs, security, remote staff access, billing tools, customer support and mobilizing data applications are priorities for multinationals but suppliers don’t meet those needs. As a result, wholesale access components often cost substantially more than in a competitive market, the report said. And in some countries PECS providers can’t get some access components, or can get them only if they build out infrastructure. Moreover, Indepen said, incumbent operators often supply wholesale access components to PECS providers on terms worse than those offered their own retail arms. Access for PECS providers to competitively priced wholesale access services and their ability to offer seamless access to multiple sites would get multinationals cheaper, faster service, enabling them to react to global market conditions, the report said. Telecom liberalization talks tend to focus on sector-level shifts, not the economy at large, Indepen said. It’s important to debate how to encourage investment nationally in next-generation broadband networks, but debate must also address cross-border value chains, the report said. At an April 14 Competitiveness Council meeting, EU officials should be “acutely aware that the current telecoms regulatory regime is not supporting the international competitiveness of EU businesses,” British Telecom and the others said. Review of Europe’s e-communications regulatory framework must pay equal heed to the needs of multinational business customers, responsible for about 35 percent of EU gross domestic product, said Luis Alvarez, BT president for EMEA and Latin America.