The greatest threat to Europe's telecom competitiveness in the world is a return to broadband monopolies and oligopolies, the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (Ecta) said during a meeting hosted by EU telecom regulator Berec. The regulator is is holding a series of event about its work program for 2015-2018.
Ecta said that Europe is a world leader for basic broadband, but that its position is coming under threat from incumbents trying to again create monopolies for next generation access (NGA) networks, 30 Mbps and above. According to data from the European Commission, incumbents have more than 80 percent of the VDSL market.
Ecta said that it was usual, at times of great techological transition, for market parties to try and establish monopolies and for them to leverage their market power. But the market should learn from history and prevent abuse and end-user harm by using effective ex-ante margin squeeze tests to make sure dominant operators are not starving competition.
The current European framework has led to competition, investment and value for the end user, set the challengers. Competition should also be strongly promoted for NGA networks, with a combination of physical access and appropriate wholesale services.
For roaming, Ecta called for clearer rules and a gradual transition to “roam like home”.
