Press Release: High-speed network connections: Commission boosts competition in leased lines

In a recommendation to Member States on 25 January 2005 the European Commission said that binding delivery deadlines should be introduced for the wholesale leased lines needed by suppliers of high-speed electronic communications services. The recommendation set out 'best current practices' for leased line delivery times. The Commission also called on national regulatory authorities to ensure that binding delivery times and penalties for not meeting them be included in wholesale leased line contracts offered by operators with significant market power to leased line retailers. Leased line delivery times vary substantially across the EU: for 2 Mbit/s lines, the delivery time in the slowest Member State is five times longer than in the fastest.