Telecoms debate turns to ‘interconnection’

Date: 30/11/1995

By Fiona McHugh

THE rush to persuade MEPs to change the course of EU telecommunications liberalisation has begun.

With the European Parliament's influential economic and monetary affairs committee poised to give its opinion on one of the key pieces of law needed to guarantee an open telecoms market - the so-called interconnection directive - interested parties are clamouring to have their voices heard.

The proposal would force national operators with more than 25&percent; of the market to allow rivals to hook up to their networks for reasonable prices, while at the same time obliging them to provide telephone services to all customers.

The draft directive recognises the need for national carriers to factor the cost of running economically unviable, but necessary, services into the price which they charge rivals for access to networks. But it insists they must keep clear accounts showing how much those services cost.

A call to have obligations to provide universal service enshrined in a separate directive, and not scattered through several telecoms directives, has been gathering support, but the Parliament's rapporteur seems unlikely to heed it.

During a preliminary discussion of the legislation, UK Socialist MEP Imelda Read indicated that not only was she in favour of keeping universal service obligations in the directive, but that she planned to tighten those obligations. She is likely to propose that an independent regulator be set up in Brussels to police interconnection in the free telecoms market once it is up and running.

This would address worries expressed by commercial telecoms firms that if that task was left to regulators run by governments, state-run carriers would be given preferential treatment.

But it is likely to meet with fierce opposition from a number of member state governments which have already made it clear they are not willing to hand over any such power to Brussels.

National operators represented by an organisation called ETNO, the European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association, have been lobbying hard to have all players subjected to the rules laid down in the directive.

They argue that the Commission's plan to limit interconnection to companies with a market share of over 25&percent; is unfair.