Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know

Regulators issue warning about proposed EU telecoms market reforms

18 Sep 2013, 5:04 pm

An EU telecoms regulatory body has warned the European Commission against pressing ahead with its plans to reform the regulation of the EU telecoms market and has questioned whether the plans, as drafted, would benefit businesses and consumers.

Last week the Commission published a unveiled a draft Regulation which, among other things, contained "simpler rules" designed to "help companies invest more and expand across borders", plans to drive more cross-border expansion by telecoms operators by coordinating the way radio frequency spectrum is allocated across the trading bloc, and a 'carrot and stick' approach to end roaming charges levied on consumers.

However, BEREC, which is a body that is made up of representatives from each of the national telecoms regulators in the 27 EU countries, including Ofcom in the UK, has raised concerns that the proposed reforms could be "rushed through the European legislature without proper explanation and full exploration of its potential consequences".

The plans promote "market consolidation" and are a "shift away from ... pro-competitive regulation", it said.

"BEREC is concerned that the draft regulation will jeopardise the integrity of the EU framework and its achievements, in terms of investment, competition and consumer benefit," the body said in a statement. "Furthermore, in BEREC’s view, the proposals risk undermining legal certainty, in contrast to the Commission’s own stated objectives of creating a predictable regulatory environment, essential to the promotion of efficient investment and effective competition. Indeed, the proposals represent an aggregation of several unrelated measures, whereas the EU Framework is a complex regulatory ecosystem that should be approached as a coherent whole."

BEREC also said it was concerned that national regulators could lose influence under the plans, which it said would see regulatory duties more centralised "at the Community level".

"These proposals risk undermining the ability of national regulators, whether acting individually or collectively, to take appropriate and proportionate regulatory action in all the relevant markets," it said.

Under the Commission's proposals, telecoms operators would be able to operate in all 28 EU member states by obtaining a single authorisation to do so from a national regulator. Currently the companies must obtain separate authorisations from each telecoms regulator in individual states.