The Commission sees flat-rate access as the way to increase the
number of Europeans who are on-line. “The Commission believes that
flat-rate interconnection for internet calls should be encouraged.
One deterrent to greater use of the internet is the customer’s
awareness that…the bill is mounting with every minute.”
The report found that around 36% of European households as a
whole were on-line by June this year, whereas, in the US where
flat-rate access is common, the figure is around 41.5%. Some member
states did compare favourably with the US when they were considered
individually. Sweden exhibited a figure of 64% of households with
internet access.
The Commission found the results of local loop unbundling
somewhat less pleasing however, and threatened some member states
with legal action. The report claimed that the progress of local
loop unbundling is “overall not satisfactory.” The Commission found
that not enough was being done to open up local networks to
competition and called on national regulators to remedy the
situation.
The UK regulator, Oftel has been responsible for questioning the
opening up of BT’s network a process which has been criticised for
being limited and needlessly drawn-out.
