E-COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE PROVIDERS REMAIN SERIOUSLY CONCERNED WITH THE AGREEMENT REACHED BY EU JUSTICE MINISTERS TO STORE RECORDS OF EVERY E-MAIL, PHONE CALL, FAX AND TEXT MESSAGE

Brussels - Following agreement at last week's Justice and Home Affairs Council, E-communications service providers, through their trade associations, urge that the European Parliament extends the more balanced approach adopted with respect to traditional telephony services, and in particular on unsuccessful calls and mobile location data, to EU online services.

ECTA URGES GREATER ROLE FOR COMPETITION IN DELIVERING UNIVERSAL SERVICE

ECTA, the European Competitive Telecommunications Association, has called on the European Commission to thoroughly review its thinking on universal service to promote a more competition-driven approach to meeting consumer needs. In its response to the Commission's Review of the scope of universal service, ECTA suggests that, in future, if regulators put in place strong mechanisms to promote competition such as "access", we can move from the current situation, where the incumbent is expected to deliver universal service, to one where operators compete to offer a wide variety of voice and Internet services to consumers.