Superfast broadband can’t happen in Europe without a level playing...
Superfast broadband can’t happen in Europe without a level playing field for investors, Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said Tuesday at a European Competitive Telecommunications Association regulatory conference in Brussels. A recent EC statement laid out the key principles on…
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how to spur roll out of very high speed broadband, but it’s only one step, she said. One way to open market access and investment is for the EC to offer more guidance on how national regulators should apply important competition conditions such as fair pricing for providers seeking network access and non-discrimination for vertically integrated network operators, she said. Access fees must be set at a level that reflects the underlying cost, and should be calculated consistently, and regulators should be faithful to the costing model they choose, she said. Moreover, vertically integrated operators should not be allowed to discriminate against competitors in favor of their own downstream business, she said. Authorities must use strong enforcement to reduce the incentives and ability of dominant players to discriminate, and must measure how successful those obligations are in practice, she said. The revised telecom rules give the EC the power, in cases where its guidance doesn’t work, to open a second-stage investigation into whether competition requirements are being appropriately and consistently applied, and the EC is “ready to use this new tool,” she said. The EC “will be there to crack down” if needed, Kroes said. Wholesale charges significantly affect broadband retail prices and the level of choice in the market, and it’s vital that they're not set so high that they hurt consumers and competition, said ECTA Director Ilsa Godlovitch. Regulators must understand what network operators’ actual costs are and not accept a theoretical price that allows “supernormal profits on networks that have already been funded by taxpayers long ago,” she said. Competition authorities must also question whether investment in fiber networks is as risky as incumbents claim, she said. Network operators, however, warned that artificially reduced wholesale charges for copper networks will erode the price level on broadband markets, making fiber products less attractive as investments.