ECTA’s statement on decision by the European Commission on vectoring in Germany
Brussels, 20 July 2016. Yesterday, the European Commission announced that it will not open an in-depth investigation into the German telecoms regulator Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA)’s revised plan to grant exclusivity on upgrades of the copper network with vectoring technology.
ECTA and its members take note of this decision but still think that the new measure does not promote or safeguard competition but actually grants an unjustified competitive advantage to the incumbent operator by removing physical unbundling. Maintaining a strong level of competition by ensuring physical network access by the alternative operators is the most efficient way to promote a Gigabit Society and to guarantee innovation and affordability which will result in genuine end-user benefits.
ECTA will study the European Commission’s comments letter in detail, it welcomes yesterday’s critical comments by the European Commission and stresses that the implementation of the BNetzA decision should be such that it does not result in wiping out challenger operators from the market and obstruct the path for their fibre investments. ECTA trusts in the Commission’s announcement to remain vigilant as regards to the definition of the characteristics of the virtual product which is linked to the vectoring proposal.
ECTA urges BNetzA to take utmost account of the comments and suggestions by the European Commission and to enable more forward-looking solutions that are compatible with competition, allow for investments by all market participants, and therefore foster Germany’s path towards innovation.
ECTA (the European Competitive Telecommunications Association) is the pan-European pro-competitive trade association that represents more than 100 of the leading challenger telecoms operators across Europe. For over a decade, ECTA has been supporting the regulatory and commercial interests of telecoms operators, ISPs & equipment manufacturers in pursuit of a fair regulatory environment that allows all electronic communications providers to compete on level terms. Our members have been the leading innovators in Internet services, broadband, business communications, entertainment and mobile.
Contact: Aurélie Bladocha, Senior Public Affairs Manager
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