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European Parliament passes telecom reforms
26 November 2009
Swedish minister for communications Åsa Torstensson has signed a law to harmonise telecoms rules for the 27-nation European Union and to set up Berec, a coordinating body for regulators
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Comment: This is not European Commissioner Viviane Reding’s vision of an all-powerful regulator to enforce a single market across the EU. The union is still a collection of 27 national markets, with their own rules and participants, so total harmony is a long way off. But it’s a start on the campaign to bring all of the 27 up to the level of the best.
The European Parliament has approved new regulations for the region’s telecommunications sector.
Under the new rules, dominance of incumbent telecom companies will end as they will be required to separate their networks from their telecom services businesses if there is insufficient competition.
As part of the rules, a European body of national regulators will be formed with greater powers to punish anti-competitive behaviour and bring down prices for consumers.
The new coordinating organisation will be called the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (Berec).
The rules were approved by European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek, who signed the telecoms package in Strasbourg together with Swedish minister for communications Åsa Torstensson.
The directives will also raise investment into optical fibre broadband, leading to faster internet services throughout the 27-nation European Union and will harmonise the use of the radio spectrum.
Consumers will be able to transfer mobile phone numbers to rivals within one working day when customers switch between service providers and internet users’ consent will be needed for the use of cookies.
The reforms are likely to be put into force in December 2009 and be adopted into national law by the mid-2011. GTB