Press Release: High-speed network connections: Commission recommends leased line price ceilings

Prices for wholesale leased lines, which are a key source of broadband services for businesses should reflect the real cost of supplying them, says the European Commission. In a recommendation to Member States on 30 March 2005, the Commission reports on 'best current practices' in wholesale leased line pricing and provides competitive market benchmark prices for the entire EU, in order to help Member States to devise regulatory remedies for leased line markets that are not effectively competitive on their territory. The EU single market for electronic communication services is distorted by substantial variations in leased line prices (for a 2 Mbit/s line, 5 km long, the price in the most expensive Member State is seven times higher than in the cheapest), which are hard to explain in terms of possible underlying costs.