Reding takes ten to task on telecoms

Date: 06/10/05

The European Commission will launch around ten infringement proceedings on Wednesday (12 October) against member states that are failing to abide by rules liberalising the Union's telecoms market.

According to a Commission spokesman, they are likely to focus on the independence of national telecom regulators and the problems that some new mobile phone operators may face in entering the market.

"The independence of regulators is one of the priorities of Commissioner [Viviane] Reding," he said. "It's happening slowly, but not in all member states."

In some countries, the telecom regulator is not independent of the government, which has traditionally supported the incumbent operator.

The spokesman would not confirm those member states involved in the infringements, which cover all five directives included in the EU's 2002 regulatory framework for electronic communications.

In July, the Commission launched a round of infringements against 15 member states for failing to implement or incorrectly implementing the directives. The infringements included the independence of the national regulator, but also rules on spam, allowing GSM holders to keep the same telephone number when changing operator and the availability of the European emergency number 112.

Article reports that the European Commission was planning to launch around ten infringement proceedings on 12 October 2005 against EU Member States that were failing to abide by rules liberalising the Union's telecoms market.