Press Release: Telecoms: Regulatory supervision delivers results but a truly single market is still far away

Although the EU's Telecom Rules have led to significant benefits for citizens and enterprises alike, important challenges remain for national and European regulators, says a report published by the Commission on 12 July 2007. The report presents the results of 600 draft regulatory decisions sent to the Commission by National Regulatory Authorities. The Commission's review mechanism of national regulatory decisions, an important part of the EU Telecom Rules, has led to more coherent market analyses, greater transparency and has ensured that regulation only exists in markets which need it to be competitive. However, the Commission's report also found that, in a number of cases, the solutions which national regulators impose in order to remedy a lack of competition vary, leading to the risk of a fragmentation of the internal telecoms market to the detriment of consumers and operators with pan-European business activities.