Date: Thu, 09 Aug 2001 08:16:10 -0600 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: j mckitrick <jcm@FreeBSD-uk.eu.org>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Why anti-trust law? Message-ID: <4.3.2.7.2.20010809081533.046e1930@localhost>
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More on this (article from another list): >From: "Janos Gereben" <janos451@earthlink.net> >Subject: European locals thrown for a loop >Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2001 14:47:44 -0700 >MIME-Version: 1.0 > > EU prepares to take action on local loop fiasco > Dawn Hayes - www.the451.com > > London - The European Commission's competition directorate is >preparing to take legal action against member states that have failed >to inject sufficient competition into dominant phone companies' local >loop networks. Topping that list is the UK, where British Telecom has >stalled competitors' plans to provide DSL service by hindering their >access to its local exchanges, along with charging them high prices >and claiming it has encountered technical hitches. > > The lion's share of the 40 to 50 contenders that planned to >compete in providing DSL services in the UK have either dropped out, >like WorldCom, or gone bust, like OnCue Communications did last month. >Of the handful that remain - Colt, Easynet, Energis and wholesale >operator Bulldog - at least one is drawing up plans to take the issue >to the European Commission, since the UK telecom regulator Oftel has >failed to resolve the problem. In the meantime, BT's wholesale DSL >charges are crippling companies like Video Networks, which buys DSL >capacity to provide video-on-demand services to residential customers. > > But the UK is by no means the only offender. According to the >European Competitive Telecommunications Association, incumbent phone >companies in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, >Portugal, Spain and Sweden still retain control of almost all DSL >lines in their domestic markets, as incumbents seek to get first-mover >advantage over competitors. Denmark, Norway and Finland, and to some >extent the Netherlands, have made progress in giving competitors >access to incumbents' local exchanges. > > That process is crucial for competitors, which need to colocate >their equipment in order to provide alternative services to customers. >DSL technology, which divides existing copper wires into high and low >frequencies so that they can carry data, voice and video, is expected >to be an important step toward creating a more efficient EU economy - >as well as new services for residential customers. BT claims to have >installed about 70,000 DSL lines, but its competitors claim the real >figure is 169 lines. > > Although Oftel is being criticized for doing too little, too >late, the regulator is expected to rule this month that BT must reduce >the £6.17 ($8.64) per-month fee it had proposed to charge competitors >for shared DSL line access. Bulldog, the sole company that plans to >provide wholesale DSL services to residential customers in the UK, has >lobbied Oftel to cut that price by 70%. According to Vincent >Pickering, general counsel for Bulldog, BT's charges are the result of >BT's own inefficiency. > > BT's prices for shared-line access are the highest in Europe, a >reversal of the situation only five or six years ago when the UK led >the charge on telecommunications deregulation and lower prices. >Wednesday was the closing day for comments to Oftel on the subject, >and a decision on pricing from Oftel is expected to come as soon as >next week. > > The European Commission does not have jurisdiction over prices >set by dominant carriers in individual EU member states, but where >government agencies fail to implement EU legislation, its council of >ministers can call for the European Parliament to force member states >to comply with a law introduced on January 1 that mandates competition >in the local loop. > > The Commission has used its teeth before, notably in a landmark >case in the early 1990s when it took the French government to court >over its refusal to implement a directive that mandated competition in >the sale of telecom terminal equipment. The European Commission won. >Officials from the Commission's telecom directorate, DG13, and its >competition directorate, DG4, have indicated they are prepared to take >action. > > In the UK, a move by EC authorities may be overtaken by >commercial imperatives if reports that Babcock & Brown is seeking to >buy BT's local network and that German bank WestLB is planning to buy >its entire network infrastructure are correct. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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