The European Commission has published advice received from external experts concerning which parts of telecoms markets could be regulated ex-ante by national telecoms regulators to address structural competition problems.
The study advises that fewer markets should be included on the Commission’s list than under current EU rules, and also finds that no new markets should be added.
This advice will feed into the Commission’s review of the 2007 Recommendation which defines the wholesale and retail telecoms markets which are likely to require regulation of a dominant operator by National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs).
Vice President Neelie Kroes said: “The findings of the study will help us to update the list of the relevant markets, which will shape the scope of national regulatory interventions in the coming years.”
The study, carried out by Ecorys Netherlands says:
- The retail market for access to fixed telephony (market 1 in the 2007 Recommendation) and the wholesale market for call origination on the fixed public telephone network (market 2) do not meet the three criteria test and should be removed from the list in a revised Recommendation.
- Fixed and mobile termination markets (markets 3 and 7) should be maintained on the on the list.
- The boundaries of the local loop unbundling market (market 4) should be refined and clarified.
- Two separate wholesale markets for bitstream access (currently market 5) should be defined to better respond to the different needs observed at the retail level of mass and business market.
- The report suggests that it should be up to individual NRAs to consider whether the wholesale business bitstream market should form a single market with the terminating segments of leased lines (market 6 in the 2007 Recommendation). Here to read more.
