Leased lines are used by large companies to create in-house
company networks. Small and medium sized enterprises and
institutions use them to link up to the internet, while network
operators and service providers use them to link up their
facilities. Leased lines are therefore essential to the working of
the information society.
Since 1993, Member States have been required to ensure that a
minimum set of leased lines is available throughout their
territory, from at least one network operator - typically the
incumbent. The minimum set of leased lines defined at EU level
includes five different types of line with speeds up to 2 Mbps. The
technical specifications of these five types of leased lines are
laid down in standards agreed by the European Telecommunications
Standards Institute (ETSI).
The EU telecommunications market was liberalised in 1998, and as
a result there is now a competitive supply of leased lines in many
markets - in particular on high-density long distance routes.
Consequently, the need for enforcing the provision of leased line
services is decreasing.
A new regulatory framework for electronic communications came
into effect in all Member States from 25th July 2003. As part of
this, the former leased lines Directive has been repealed, and a
more flexible approach is now in place.
One of the principles of the new framework is that regulation
must be removed when competition is delivering the desired result.
In the case of leased lines, this means that national regulatory
authorities in the Member States will be able to remove the
obligation for an operator to provide some or all of the leased
line types in the minimum set where market analysis shows that
there is effective competition in the relevant leased line
market.
In doing its market analysis, the national regulatory authority
can take into account the geographical dimension, so if competition
is effective in some areas but not others, the obligation to
provide leased lines can be maintained only in those areas where
competition is not effective.
The text of the Commission Decision is available
here.
