The European Commission (EC) plans to introduce comprehensive reforms this year designed to create a more unified, competitive and profitable telecoms sector, vice-president Neelie Kroes has said.
In an interview with the UK’s Financial Times, Kroes…
The European Commission (EC) plans to introduce comprehensive reforms this year designed to create a more unified, competitive and profitable telecoms sector, vice-president Neelie Kroes has said.
In an interview with the UK’s Financial Times, Kroes said the commission is “working on a range of measures to create common and stable conditions across the EU”. New policies should boost competition, investment and growth as well as improve opportunities for cross-border consolidation, she said.
Kroes, the commissioner for the digital agenda, highlighted asset sharing as a means of stimulating competition and investment. She said options include affording operators access to dominant infrastructure on terms that encourage further investment, sharing mobile masts and spectrum, and pooling infrastructure with other utilities.
Kroes said the commission and national regulators need to cooperate more fully, although she noted that she is not pushing for a single regulator at present.
This year, the EC intends to offer more guidance on network-sharing opportunities in an effort to accelerate the rollout of 4G services.
Kroes’ comments follow news that executives from EU telcos including Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, Telecom Italia and Telefonica are looking at how to create a more harmonised European telecoms sector.
A Financial Times report last week stated the executives are considering network sharing opportunities following a recent meeting with EC vice president and competition head Joaquin Almunia.
Lobby group European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO) said telecoms companies plan to present their conclusions on the possibility of creating a single European market to Kroes, the latest FT report stated.
Almunia has indicated previously that he would be more open to cross-border consolidation than further in-country mergers.
In a speech in Washington in September last year, he told delegates that further consolidation within the EU “can certainly be beneficial if it increases efficiency”.
