The European Regulators Group (ERG) met in Amsterdam last week to set the 2003 agenda for telecom legislation within the European Commission. Priority will be given to those issues related to the new regulatory framework that needs to be transposed into national laws by the end of July 2003. The ERG said the implementation of effective competition for local services is a clear priority. Other top items on the work agenda include:
- Termination tariffs for mobile traffic
International roaming policies for mobile service
Broadband access -- the ERG intends to carry out a comparison of the regulatory policies at the national level and decide whether a common perspective/practice/initiative would be necessary and possible..
Unbundling the local loop -- the ERG noted that while there has been improvement in the regulatory situation in EU member states, it needs to continue to monitor effective implementation of ULL and will react to any needs in the market place. Special attention will be drawn to the application of cost-orientation and the principle of non-discrimination in that respect.
Leased Lines or wholesale lines for competitive carriers -- prices and delivery times of leased lines, including interconnection leased lines, are recurrent issues at the EU level. The European Commission as well as Industry and Users associations, have focused a major part of their work on this area. During 2002, many regulators have adopted regulatory measures to ensure proper wholesale offers for leased lines, in some cases including interconnection of leased lines, in the reference interconnection offers. Service level agreements and penalties in case of delays in deliveries have also been adopted. ERG will monitor effective application of adopted measures and assess non-discrimination and cost-orientation.
Telecom accounting -- the ERG will examine the various accounting methods applied across Europe and develop a common policy if needed.
Universal service, network security and continuity of operations: -- Several cases across the EU have shown that continuity and security is of the utmost importance for consumers, as well as for competing operators. On a national level, different approaches exist to handle this issue. The European Commission has asked the ERG to analyze these different approaches and advise the Commission on a standard procedure to be applied in these circumstances.
Infrastructure Sharing and Spectrum Trading -- issues regarding network infrastructure and spectrum sharing amongst operators (notably for UMTS-networks).- http://europa.eu.int
