EC moots telecoms super-regulator
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Competition drive The concept of a European super-regulator has been considered in a report from the European Commission, looking at ways in which competition could be increased in the telecommunications business.â¦
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BRUSSELS: A European Union court is set to rule this week on a $120 billion deal MCI-WorldCom made during the height of the go-go years that still resonates today.
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CALLS for an all-Ireland mobile phone tariff were made yesterday after plans to slash cross-border roaming charges by up to 70 per cent were backed by EU ministers.   Millions of mobile phone users across 27 member states will benefit from the new rules adopted by the EU Telecoms Council.
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Regulator Ofcom launches a consultation into how the UK should roll out super-fast broadband services.
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Britons enjoy some of the best deals for telephone, TV and broadband, according to regulator Ofcom.
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Agency gives phone companies more leeway in sharing connections. Also: Broadband over power lines gets green light.
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Some net phone firms must give customers access to emergency numbers rules regulator Ofcom.
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BT Group must provide rivals with equal access to its national telecoms network and make radical changes to the way it does business, Ofcom, the industry regulator, announced yesterday.
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Mobile phone operators face a new attack on their revenue in Europe after the UK telecoms regulator expressed concern about "extremely high" prices paid by consumers and business people for web surfing on their mobiles while abroad.
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The national telecoms regulator in Romania (the MCTI) has announced the winners of the bidding for 3G licences in the country.
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The telecoms watchdog Ofcom is considering how to regulate firms that let you make calls via the net.
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Web media threatens to move out: take toys Ofcom, the UK telecommunications regulator, has said that a European Union plan to regulate video risks restricting innovation and even forcing companies to relocate outside the EU to avoid compliance.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - The European Commission asked the German regulatory authority, the Federal Network Agency, Monday to do more to ensure a level playing field in the market for high-speed optical fiber connections to the home or office. It is asking the regulator to help secure adequate access to the market for competitors to Deutsche Telekom AG. The Commission -- the executive and regulatory branch of the European Union -- also asked the national regulator to complete its market analysis for access to the new super fast networks, dubbed next-generation networks (NGNs). "The Commission is keen to ensure that NGNs can be deployed and made accessible in a consistent and transparent manner across Europe," said Viviane Reding, EU telecom commissioner. "It is vital that we ensure effective competition and the legal certainty necessary for all market players to invest in new products and services that will benefit consumers." In May the Federal Network Agency notified the Commission of rules designed to force Deutsche Telekom to grant competitors access to its copper fixed telephone network. As Deutsche Telekom is upgrading its network by rolling out optical fibre-based connections, these rules also apply during the transition to the new infrastructure. In a letter sent to the national regulator Monday, the Commission did not challenge its market definition of local loop unbundling but raised a number of issues on regulatory remedies. Having examined the rules, the Commission said they were a step in the right direction but ultimately they have failed to ensure fair competition. "There are more issues to be tackled, we want more remedies," said Martin Selmayr, a Commission spokesman in charge of telecom-related issues, at a press conference Monday. The rollout of fiber closer to the customers, normally to the street cabinets, enables the provision of high bandwidth services but it raises important issues regarding the position of alternative operators that currently benefit from access obligations of Deutsche Telekom's existing networks. As alternative operators in Germany roll out their own infrastructure to local exchanges, these operators now need an economic way of reaching the new access points provided in street cabinets. The Commission is asking the German telecom regulator to guarantee that access to Deutsche Telekom's existing copper network by its competitors remains efficient during the rollout of NGNs. In the new networks, the number of access points required by an alternative operator will be many times higher than that for the traditional fixed telephony network. In many cases there would no longer be a business case for alternative operators to extend their network down to the street cabinets, the Commission said. Therefore, the Commission stresses the importance of ensuring appropriate alternative access solutions as NGNs are deployed. The Commission can't force the national regulator to take action but its opinion cannot be ignored, Selmayr said. At the same time, the deployment of NGNs raises questions as to how competitors may continue benefiting from current access obligations, in the future, while maintaining incentives to invest for both the incumbent and new entrants. Deutsche Telekom has begun delivering IP (Internet Protocol) services such as telephony, television and Internet access over VDSL (Very high bit rate DSL) to customers in some German cities. It has asked the regulator to exempt its VDSL service from a requirement that it lease its infrastructure to competitors on reasonable terms, claiming that without the exclusive right to use the infrastructure, it cannot fund the necessary investment.
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Ireland&#39;s telecom regulator said this week that is taking &quot;extraordinary&quot; measures to protect internet users from rogue autodialer programs that hijack their modems and run up long-distance phone charges by suspending direct dialing to 13 countries, most
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BARCELONA, Spain  - Mobile phone operators must  act before July 1 to avoid the European Union imposing lower  prices for texting or surfing the Web via mobile phones when  abroad, the bloc's top telecoms regulator said on Monday.
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GMTV early-winners debacle comes to a head UK premium-rate regulator ICSTIS has hit Opera Telecom with a Â£250,000 fine and independent review of its operating practices for picking the winners of the GMTV phone-in competition early.â¦
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Business & money: Â·  EC looks at forcing down price of mobile roaming Â·   Worries over high costs  for business