Mr Liikanen said, “local loop unbundling is one important means to
achieve high-speed internet access for European users and consumers
under competitive conditions.” However, as things currently stand,
“relatively few unbundled lines have actually been made available,
something approaching 500,000”.
He added, “the Commission can bring infringement proceedings
where necessary,” though acknowledged that such action could be
counter productive at this stage. He said he will wait until a
further report is released in October before considering legal
proceedings.
He acknowledged, “we do not underestimate the ability of the
incumbent operators to drag their feet as much as possible in order
to postpone competition”. He says reports have been received from
“new entrant operators that incumbents are delaying
provisioning….usually by insisting on cumbersome delivery
procedures or rejecting orders on the basis of minor
technicalities”.
