SPAIN STAGNATES AS TELEFONICA PROFITS: BROADBAND STUDY SHOWS

Pro-competition body ECTA warns policy-makers against yielding to dominant telcos’ demands for special treatment of fibre networks. Growth and investment in high speed networks depends on competition

Brussels, 2 March 2009 – Broadband connections across the EU rose by 20% over the year, to a total of 110.5m connections, representing 22.5% of Europe’s population, according to ECTA’s latest twice-yearly EU Broadband Scorecard, published today.  But the pro-competition body warns that in countries such as Spain, where the incumbent operator, Telefonica, continues to increase its control of the market with more than 57% of all retail broadband connections, the market has stagnated with the result that Spain is languishing below the OECD and EU average with a broadband penetration rate of only 20% and low growth rates.

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TELECOM BENCHMARK HIGHLIGHTS GAPS IN EU COMPETITIVENESS

Consumers benefit from better telecoms services and higher investment levels in countries where the national telecoms regulatory authority has strong powers and is active in using them, according to a report that will be published tomorrow by ECTA.

Brussels, 27 January 2009 – The pro competition body’s annual Regulatory Scorecard, which benchmarks the telecoms regulatory framework in 20 European countries, found that the effectiveness of regulation varies significantly across Europe and that the actions of the regulator have a strong influence on the development of high-speed broadband. The report also highlights how the competitiveness of multi-national European firms is being undermined by the variations in regulation, which push up the cost of building networks across Europe.

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TELECOMS COMPETITION KEY TO BEATING RECESSION

ECTA warns Ministers against protecting monopolies on eve of crucial Telecoms Council vote on functional separation

Brussels, 26 November 2008 – ECTA today urged the Telecoms Council of Ministers at its meeting tomorrow (27th November) to grant national regulators the power to impose the remedy of functional separation. The pro-competition body believes that empowering Europe’s telecoms regulators is critical if the European ICT sector, which connects multi-national businesses representing 35% of Europe’s GDP, is to play its part in bringing the EU economies out of recession. An integral element of the recovery is for Europe’s businesses and consumers to benefit from next generation super high-speed services.

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LEADING EUROPEAN TELECOMS POLICYMAKERS CONVENE AT ECTA REGULATORY CONFERENCE

Annual meeting of telecommunications stakeholders to debate next decade of regulatory decisions

Brussels, 3 October 2008 - ECTA’s annual Telecommunications Regulatory Conference, which attracts Europe’s leading policymakers, national authorities, regulators and operators, will take place in Brussels on 26-28th November, 2008. The conference comes at a critical time for the European telecommunications market, as the regulatory environment for next generation broadband access is determined.

The Conference, sponsored by KPMG and supported by pro-competition providers including BT, Cable & Wireless, Fastweb, TDC, Wind and Verizon Group, will provide one of the most important forums this year for open debate on the recently announced Framework Review proposals made by the European Parliament and the Commission.

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STUDY REVEALS HIGH COSTS WILL LIMIT SUPERFAST BROADBAND

ECTA calls for focus on availability and openness of fibre networks, warns against unprofitable duplication

Brussels, 16 September 2008 – Groundbreaking research published today by WIK, reveals that high fixed costs will limit the availability of super fast broadband to many European homes and rural businesses. France has the best prospect of fibre rollout, with viability to 25% of households. The study also shows that the economics simply do not stack up for competitive operators to duplicate costly infrastructure on a wide scale and that access to fibre is a win-win scenario as it improves the business case for all providers, to the ultimate benefit of consumers.  Click here for ECTA's full press release (PDF 94KB)

Click here for WIK press release (PDF 86KB)
Click here for executive summary of WIK NGA study  (PDF 161KB)
Click here for copy of WIK NGA study (ZIP PDF 1.91MB)

REPORT SHOWS 100 MILLION EUROPEANS HAVE BROADBAND ACCESS

Super-speed broadband driven by competitive providers

ECTA calls for open access to fibre to boost broadband speeds and services

Brussels, 1st September 2008 – Europe now has over 100 million broadband subscribers according to the latest Broadband Scorecard released today by ECTA. The results of its twice-yearly survey also show that altnets, or competitive providers, and not the large incumbents which own much of the telecom infrastructure, are leading in provision of super broadband connection speeds above 10Mbits/sec, as well as driving the uptake of high-tech services. Speeds and services have become the next broadband battleground, according to the pro-competition body.

ECTA WARNS OF THREAT TO BROADBAND COMPETITION FROM EU PARLIAMENT TELECOMS PROPOSALS

Brussels, 08 July 2008 – The European Competitive Telecoms Association, the pro competition group, gave a cautious welcome to proposals from the European Parliament to amend the EU Telecoms Framework, but warned that many of the amendments approved by the European Parliament’s Industry Committee on 7 July protect and favour dominant firms at the expense of competition in the telecoms sector. ECTA cautioned that, if adopted by the Parliament and endorsed by other European institutions, the advantages gained by the dominant firms under the proposed revisions to the EU legislation could undermine competition in high-speed broadband services.

LEADING EUROPEAN STUDY SHOWS BUSINESS CASE FOR NEXT GENERATION BROADBAND FAVOURS FORMER INCUMBENTS

Economics of fibre networks prevent widespread replication

ECTA calls for mandatory access to fibre networks in the EU Telecoms Framework to counter anti-competition threat

Brussels, 25 June 2008 – Definitive research, released today at the High Speed Europe conference, is the first to analyse the business case of rolling out next generation fibre networks across Europe. The study, carried out by WIK, one of Europe’s leading telecoms research and analysis firms, shows overwhelming that only incumbent operators, with their extensive infrastructure and customer bases, can profitably roll out high speed fibre to the home (FTTH) lines to large parts of Europe. This raises the possibility that incumbents could once again increase their market share reversing the trend towards more competition in telecoms.

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EUROPEANS PAY OVER €10 BILLION A YEAR IN SPURIOUS MOBILE TERMINATION CHARGES

ECTA endorses Commission’s efforts to cut rates

Brussels, 24 June 2008 – ECTA’s competitive fixed operators today claimed that lucrative wholesale charges imposed by incumbent mobile operators for connecting calls to each other’s networks are both excessive and discriminatory. As a result, European consumers are being penalised. The pro-competition group called on Commissioner Reding to enforce a cut in these charges when she publishes her proposals on termination rates later this month.

Currently the average EU mobile termination rate is nine euro cents a minute, although rates between member states and between networks vary significantly. Commissioner Reding said earlier this month[1] that she wants to see mobile termination rates cut to between one and two euro cents by 2012. ECTA agrees that a significant decrease is needed.

European Commission telecoms report calls time on incumbent investment scare tactics - ECTA comments on the main findings of the report

The Commission’s Implementation Report on the Telecoms Framework, released today, challenges claims by incumbents that investment in Europe is stalling. Not only has investment increased for the fifth year in a row, but it is the competitive providers and not the incumbent operators that are spearheading telecoms investment in Europe, proving ECTA’s long-held position.

According to the report, capital expenditure on telecoms in Europe exceeded €50bn in 2007, with competitive providers investing twice as much as incumbents in relation to their size. This is despite the fact that they are competing with incumbents who own 85% of telephone lines across Europe, a very risky investment environment for the competitive providers.