[Reuters] The proposed shake-up of European telecoms rules was immediately opposed by Germany and incumbents.The European Commission proposed on Tuesday giving national telecoms regulators major new powers to split dominant operators in a shake-up of European telecoms rules immediately opposed by Germany and incumbents.The EU executive also wants to be allowed to override national regulators’ decisions and to create an EU telecoms watchdog. It says the controversial measures are needed to boost competition in broadband and wireless services.
http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202806069Also see:European Commission acts to reduce telecoms regulation by 50% to focus on broadband competition
As part of its package of telecom reform proposals presented on 13 November, the European Commission has adopted a new Recommendation on the markets where telecom-specific regulation should take place. The original 2003 version of this Recommendation listed 18 retail and wholesale markets where the Commission considers that specific ex ante regulation is required by national telecoms regulators to deal with competition problems. To reflect the progress made in the past years in most EU Member States in terms of competition and consumer choice, the Commission concluded that in principle there is no need for regulators to intervene in half of these markets. At the same time, this move will allow regulation to better focus on the main bottlenecks in the telecoms sector.
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