After a very public spat between Vodafone’s CEO and European Commissioner Neelie Kroes on telecoms regulation, Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann today waded into the debate by calling for regulators to be more supportive of the industry.
Speaking at…
After a very public spat between Vodafone’s CEO and European Commissioner Neelie Kroes on telecoms regulation, Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann today waded into the debate by calling for regulators to be more supportive of the industry.
Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Obermann complained that regulatory regimes continue to take “a fantastic amount of money” out of the telecoms industry, at the same time as requiring telcos to develop costly next-generation networks.
Obermann argued that, in order to offer “smart connectivity” in the future, telcos need to be allowed to perform “intelligent traffic management” to deliver a quality experience to consumers and cope with rising demand.
“You can’t do that with a pipe that is regulated to be dumb,” Obermann said.
He specified that this intelligent management did not mean the same as being discriminatory with certain types of traffic.
Obermann’s remarks followed Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao’s speech yesterday, in which Colao criticised regulators for their “continuous intervention” on issues like mobile termination rates.
Colao’s remarks had received a sharp reply by European telecoms Commissioner Neelie Kroes, who said in a written statement directed at Vodafone: “I call your bluff, and indeed do not respond well to threats.”
Kroes said that she wanted the mobile sector to have more spectrum and a bigger market, but added that “a fair competition in roaming is a good exchange for those opportunities”.
Meanwhile, Vimpelcom’s CEO Jo Lunder emphasised in his own MWC speech today that telcos need “good cooperation” with governments.
Lunder set out six key demands for policymakers and regulators. These included allocating spectrum effectively, applying a sensible tax regime and allowing telcos to improve productivity through infrastructure rationalisation and sharing.
