Incumbent telecom operators in Europe are afraid of structural separation and the consolidation of regulatory power in the hands of the European Commission, as opposed to national regulatory bodies. What does this really mean?EU incumbent operators are afraid of structural separation, according to the Wall Street Journal, and the consolidation of regulatory power in the hands of the European Commission, according to the Wall Street Journal.
It’s no secret that EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding is fed up with the funny little games that EU member states play. For example, recently, Germany passed a law allowing Deutsche Telekom to have a “regulatory holiday” for its new fiber networks. Like every fun holiday in Europe, this means DT does not have to share its new fiber networks with competitors. The EC has taken Germany and DT to court over this on grounds that DT has disproportionate market power and the services delivered over fiber are not new or innovative enough to warrant a “regulatory holiday”.
The most curious aspect of Reding’s and the Commission’s view is that they want US style centralization of regulatory power over telecoms. That’s great as long as we have someone like Reding who believes in structural separation (infrastructure separated from services). I am a huge fan of Viviane Reding, but she’s not going to be with the Commission forever. I am surprised that she’s so enamoured with the US regulatory scheme has totally failed to bring true broadband to the US.
What if we get someone like FCC Chairman Kevin Martin? The problem I have with concentrations of regulatory power is that they are so susceptible to the big-money lobbying that we’ve seen in the US where the incumbents take control of one large regulatory body that influences the entire European Union.
In my opinion, only structural separation can achieve true net neutrality. All those Net Neutrality bills circulating in the US Congress are just bandaids. They don’t cure the real problem.
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