EU regulation bottleneck for broadband investment
Andreas Juva, EuropeMedia.net
11/07/2002
Heinz Sundt , CEO of Telekom Austria AG, has said that the failure of current regulation to encourage innovation and investment in broadband infrastructure is a barrier to economic progress in the member states and to the EU's objective of becoming the world's most competitive economy by 2010, as stated at Lisbon in 2001.
Mr.Sundt asserted that in its current review of the regulation of telecos, the EU must take the opportunity to lift the barrier to investment. He highlighted the example of the US, which invested 1 per cent of its GDP in new media between 1995-2000 compared to Europe's 0.5 per cent.
Sundt commented, "Europe needs harmonised regulation set up with the clear objective of catalysing broadband infrastructure innovation and investment, both in the fixed and wireless sectors. This will lead to better and cheaper services for businesses and consumers, will improve the competitiveness of national economies and the entire EU region, and will encourage foreign investment. To achieve this the EU's strategy should be to regulate those markets where competition does not exist and phase-out regulation where competition works well."
On 18 June the EU published draft guidelines to help national telecom watchdogs define which markets within the telcos sector need further regulation. The guidelines are currently under consultation with the industry and will be finalized around September 2002.
A study by the Austrian Institute of Economic Research, WIFO, of April 2002 agrees that additional regulation would inhibit innovation. Dr. Hannes Leo, author of the study, warns that the positive effect of regulation, which succeeded in opening up the telecoms market, has now run dry. In his study he said: "European liberalization strategy has so far favoured the rise of competition at the price of infrastructure investment. Europe must now revise its regulatorary approach to enable it to at least reach the levels of investment in the US."
For Austria, Sundt proposed that an antitrust competition law and a general supervisory body to monitor possible abuses replace sector specific regulation.
As a first positive sign of the review process in Austria, in the Vienna Parliament a recommendation was recently submitted to the Government calling for more light-handed ex-ante regulation and for concrete measures to create an investment-friendly telecoms environment.
Vivendi may pull the plug on Central European operations
Europemedia.net
French media giant Vivendi may be considering selling its Central European assets as part of a drive to reduce its debts.
In an interview with the La Tribune newspaper, Vivendi chairman and CEO, Jean-Marie Messier, said that apart from selling utilities subsidiary Vivendi Environnement, other possibilities to reduce Vivendi's debt would be the sale of Elektrim in Poland. Messier added that Vivendi has other non-strategic telecoms interests in Central Europe.
According to the Budapest Business Journal, a spokesperson for Vivendi did not confirm whether Messier's statement was true, saying only that the comments had been made, and adding that 'strategic interests' applies to France and neighbouring Monaco.
Vivendi's Central European operations are located in Hungary and Poland. In Hungary, Vivendi occupies the number two slot in the newly-liberalised telecoms market, after the incumbent, Matav.
Meanwhile, in Poland, Vivendi owns a 10 per cent stake in troubled conglomerate Elektrim and a majority stake in Elektrim Telekomunikacja, which in turn controls PTC (Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa), owner of Era, a GSM mobile operator.
Commentary: Europe's Wireless Wakeup Call
By: Dan Jones | March 11, 2002
The time has come for European regulatory authorities to get off the fence on the 802.11a standard from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE). Unless they get a move on and adopt the standard, the deployment of low-cost broadband wireless services could be seriously delayed – and this could have a serious impact on the growth of the European mobile market.
The problem is that the Europeans – naturally – don't like the idea of adopting technology that comes from the U.S. They would prefer to use their own, homegrown specification, HiperLAN, in an effort to support indigenous equipment manufacturers. But, basically, that battle has already been fought and lost. The development of HiperLAN has fallen behind that of IEEE 802.11. Major HiperLAN supporter Ericsson AB has dumped it in favor of the IEEE standard.
It's time to move on.
Tied to Nothing But the Future
Unstrung.com
European Court rejects max.mobil case
Europemedia.net
The European Court of Justice has rejected legal action by mobile operator max.mobil, who alleged the Austrian government was favouring Mobilkom, a partly state-owned rival operator.
T-Mobile, who owns max.mobil, claimed the government was giving preferential treatment to Mobilkom when it allocated DCS 1800 MHz frequencies and network access – controlled by the Postal and Telegraph Administration. The company argued it should have been charged lower concession fees.
But the court threw out the application and ordered max.mobil to pay court costs. T-Mobil had previously taken its case to the European Commission, which refused to get involved.
Mobilkom Austria to offer GPRS roaming
Mobilkom Austria, the mobile subsidiary of Telekom Austria AG announced that starting in February, GPRS Roaming will be offered to all its customers. That means the service, which provides a mobile internet connection beyond national borders, will be available to all GPRS customers of A1, VIPnet (Croatia), Si.mobil (Slovenia) and mobilkom in Liechtenstein.
Mobilkom Austria was the first mobile communications provider in Austria to launch a commercial GPRS network with countrywide coverage in August 2000. It has about 35,000 GPRS customers. Mobilkom Austria is already carrying out GPRS roaming tests together with its strategic partner Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM). The aim is to provide access to WAP, the web and the company's own intranet for all roaming customers.
European Parliament approves .eu domain
The European Parliament has approved the new internet address extension of ‘.eu.’
The new top level domain will benefit businesses and all people living in the EU, parliament said in a statement adding that it also provides for a clear identifiable bond with the EU, its legal framework and the European market. The decision comes as ministers from 15 EU countries in charge of telecoms, science and technology meet in Vitoria in northern Spain. The meeting is looking at better ways to co-ordinate technology and internet use within the EU. Among those addressing the ministers behind closed doors was Vivendi's managing director Eric Licoys and the president of the Spain's Telefonica, Cesar Alierta.
