According to the Commissioner, despite the efforts deployed by
public authorities at EU and national level, the results of local
loop unbundling throughout Europe are “extremely disappointing,”
and fewer that 900,000 lines are unbundled. In many countries
unbundling has not gone beyond a merely experimental stage.
Access to local loops is necessary for smaller telecoms
operators, who are otherwise unable to offer high-speed data
services in affordable prices. In March 2001 the EU adopted five
Directives that aimed to address the issue and to offer a
regulatory framework for the telecoms industry in the new
competitive environment.
The provisions of the Directives relied more on market forces to
determine competition. The Commission launched actions against
Italy, Spain and France which had not completed the process of
tariff rebalancing.
However the Commission has now adopted a much more
regulatory-driven approach and a tough stance against incumbents
such as BT, Deutsche Telecom and France Telecom, which are treated
as monopolies.
Mr Monti said:
“I can confirm to you that local loop
unbundling continues to be one of the priority areas for the
Commission. Both DG Competition and DG Information Society… will do
everything within our powers to foster effective access to the
local loop and to ensure a level playing field between all actors
in the market.”
“A sector enquiry is not carried out for the
beauty of the exercise, but with a view to identify possible
competition problems and taking action to resolve them.”
