European Commissioner Neelie Kroes has announced that guidance on wholesale charges by infrastructure providers would be ready for consultaion with stakeholders as soon as possible in 2011. Kroes outlined the role of the European Commission in creating the best conditions for investment in fibre and superfast broadband. Speaking at a conference organised by the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) in Brussels, the commissioner for the digital agenda stated that the EC's NGA Recommendations, setting out the key principles of how to promote the rollout of superfast broadband was only the first step. The text protects competition while supporting the need to incentivise fibre investment among incumbent and competitive operators. Now the EC will actively offer further guidance on the application of key remedies such as fair prices for third party network access and implementation of non-discrimination for vertically integrated network operators. Kroes also highlighted the EC's role in exercising strong regulatory oversight, working with Berec, national regulators and industry, to establish a genuine level playing field across the EU. The most important consideration is for access prices to be set at a fair level reflecting the underlying cost, set consistently and on good modelling principles. ECTA welcomed the plan to set guidance on wholesale regulated prices and to address discrimination by dominant firms.
