Interview with Viviane Reding, EU commissioner for information society and media

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In mid-September we heard that Mrs. Viviane Reding, the EU Commissioner for information society and media, will visit Athens on the occasion of the ERG Plenary Session.

Mrs. Reding, a politician with a long time service in the European Commission, dares to lead the course of progress and not to follow it, and she is a champion of the concept for a common European telecommunications and broadband policy.

Her daring aspects are in the center of the discussion for the development of the telecom market not only in Europe as a whole, but also in our country which is struggling to bridge the digital gap.

Our idea for an interview with her, maybe sounded venturesome and unrealistic. The outcome showed to us that it was worth trying!

(Click here to shift to Greek version)

• Adslgr.com : Despite the rapid penetration of broadband lines in Greece, the retail prices of services are still high, compared to other E.U. States. How far is Greece from bridging the Broadband Gap regarding the retail prices? What are the main factors for this disproportion and what remedies do you propose?
  
  Viviane Reding, EU Telecoms Commissioner:The penetration of broadband lines in Greece is increasing in the last years. I am pleased to note that after many years of lagging behind, Greece achieved last year the highest speed of growth in the EU, with a growth rate of over 150%, reaching 6.8% in July this year. However, this broadband penetration rate is still well below the European average of 18.2%. And despite many efforts, retail prices of broadband services are still high compared to other EU member states. This is certainly partly to the special topography of Greece, but at the same time also a sign of remaining important competition problems in the Greek broadband market.
  
  For the EU, this is of course an area of concern as we see that the gap between the best-performing Member States and those performing less well risks to increase even greater. One should also not forget that, unlike Member States like Denmark and the Netherlands, which are world leaders in broadband penetration with over 30%, Greece does not have alternative fixed infrastructures like cable. Greece therefore continues to need determined regulatory intervention to ensure effective competition.
  
  Of course, the remaining problems in Greece can also be explained by the fact that Greece transposed the EU Telecom Ruls of 2002 only in 2006, under the pressure of the EU Commission. As result the Greek National Regulatory Authority, EETT, was unable for a long time to implement before 2006 appropriate regulation in the broadband market, and could start to do so only late last year. As a result of OTE's Reference Unbundling Offer adopted by EETT this spring I expect however that there now will be more competition in ADSL services which should bring retail prices down.
  
  It appears that in general, Greece has recognised the problems on its broadband market and is wishing to move ahead. I welcome in this context that Greece presented in May this year its "Greek Broadband Action plan to 2008", the aim of which is to implement Metropolitan Area Networks in 75 municipalities, wireless broadband in 120 towns and communities, 770 wireless hotspots in 400 firms and use of broadband by satellite. And Greece has committed to reach the EU average penetration rate over the next two years until 2009. This is an ambitious objective, and I will support all efforts made by the Greek government and by the Greek telecom regulator to achieve this.
  
  
• Adslgr.com : During your speech at the EETT conference in Athens last June, you announced plans in order to reinforce the National Regulators with the mandatory power to impose functional separation on telecom companies with significant market power. Having in mind the course of broadband development in Greece, do you believe that the functional separation is an absolute necessity in order to force the pace of the telecoms growth in our country?
  
  Viviane Reding: I have indeed proposed to include the remedy of functional separation in the reform of the EU Telecom Rules. Functional separation can be a very useful instrument to overcome the main network access bottlenecks when standard remedies have failed.
  
  Functional separation requires an incumbent operator to establish operationally separate business entities, although overall ownership will remain the same. This should allow other retail operators to have full access to the incumbent's network, including its own retail divisions. Access would be granted on the same terms to all by the separate business unit. In the UK, functional separation was successful and unleashed a new wave of investments in the British telecoms industry when the former monopoly BT decided to separate out its network from its services. When it began in 2006, only 200,000 unbundled access lines existed. Since then it has grown to 2 million. Broadband penetration in the UK has at least doubled as a result of this regulatory intervention, while investment was encouraged by this move of the British regulator.
  
  This model could be replicated elsewhere. Italy, Sweden and also the Polish telecom regulator are now also considering introducing functional separation in agreement with the European Commission.
  
  This means that in the next years, functional separation will be an interesting option that national regulators, such as EETT, with the agreement of the EU Commission, could resort to, in particular, in markets where competing infrastructures can not be expected to evolve soon, such as in rural or non-metropolitan areas. The new EU telecom rules, to be adopted on 13 November, will provide further legal certainty about how and under which circumstances functional separation can be used by an independent national telecom regulator.
  
  
• Adslgr.com : Recently you are taking actions for the establishment of common standards in the European telecoms sector (for example: the radio spectrum, the mobile satellite services, e.c.t.) aiming at the formation of a pan-European market.
  Do these initiatives have respect to your plans – according to news stories – for the establishment of the so-called “European Telecom Market Authority” which is going to perform (in a way) as a …”Federal Regulator”?
  
  What are the reactions on behalf of the National Regulators, the Member States, and the European Commission itself? How will you evade bureaucratic effects such as the power overlap, and how the consumers will benefit by such a commission?
  
  Viviane Reding:The possibility of establishing a European regulatory authority for the telecom sector is indeed explored by European Commission. The final decision will be taken on 13 November.
  
  I believe that telecoms is clearly a field where we need more Europe. The recent example of the EU Roaming Regulation has shown that only determined European action can solve a pan-European problem of business and private users, and that often national regulators alone cannot do this job in view of their limitation to the borders of one country only. My objective is therefore to achieve consistent regulatory approaches across the EU, which intends to be a single market for companies and consumers, but is, especially in the telecom sector, still too much fragmented into 27 different regulatory systems. The US telecom market is regulated by one telecom regulator, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) – should we in Europe really continue to accept 27 parallel, often uncoordinated regulatory systems in telecoms?
  
  In view of technologies reaching easily across borders and increasingly trans-national interests of businesses and users – who all want to be connected everywhere where they go in Europe – a more efficient European regulatory system is needed that offers better and faster regulatory solutions for competition problems and consumer concerns.
  
  This is why the option of establishing a European Telecom Market Authority – that will build on the expertise of the national telecom regulators and work closely with the Commission – should address such issues in a non¬bureaucratic manner and more consistently than under existing rules. Not centralism, but federalism should be the governance principle of all new institutional arrangements in the telecom sector: We should build on the 27 national telecom regulators and their expertise, but at the same time ensure that they work together as an efficient team in the interest of Europe's single market.
  
  
• Adslgr.com : Greece is positioned in a cross-cultural path relative to Western Europe (through Italy), the S/E Europe, Turkey, N. Africa and the Middle East (through Cyprus). It's also proven to be a dependable factor of stability and growth in the region.
  Many of the problems associated with Internet development in our broader area, appear to be directly related to our costly access to the West-European backbones which, combined with the lower per capita income and much-less industrialised economies, lead to marginalisation of S/E. Europe in the European Backbone map. This, of course, has significant impact on the Broadband penetration map, too.
  
  After the last two E.U. enlargements, it would make sense for Greece to play the role of a central Internet exchange node between all the aforementioned areas - connecting West with East and North with South. This would completely change the European backbone picture relative to our region, and broadband penetration would flourish as result in all the interconnected countries (some of which are also E.U. members now).
  
  Is there some kind of planning at a European level that is aligned with the Backbone, and consequently Broadband, de-marginalisation of S.E. Europe - relative to W. Europe? What are the steps that the European Commission is taking, or could take to forward this cause?
  
  Viviane Reding: Our present and future Telecom Rules aim to create a level playing field throughout Europe. This means no one country or region should be favoured over another. The fact that we are also working hard to ensure broadband access for all – whether by fibre optic lines or through wireless broadband –means exactly that. Every citizen or business should have equal access to high speed internet connections. The rollout of broadband networks is primarily a matter for private investors. There may be government funding in certain cases, like in remote areas, where private investment is not available. In this sense, public-private sector synergy in broadband rollout will significantly improve growth and jobs throughout Europe, especially in areas which are currently lag behind. Remember, some newer Member States such as Estonia are already far ahead of some older Member States.
  
  
• Adslgr.com : Much discussion goes on regarding Net-Neutrality and the right of Backbone operators or ISPs to not only charge for end-point connections, but also the traffic or type of traffic conducted through their networks. This kind of activity could even extend to traffic prioritisation depending the reaction of content providers to the monetary demands of a backbone operator. The consequences of such possibilities are far-reaching and thus need to be addressed. This becomes even more essential if we consider that recently, the American Department of Justice gave the legal go-ahead for this type of network management.
  
  What is the position of the European Commission regarding this issue, and do you believe that a neutral Europe could have a competitive advantage over a non-neutral United States?
  
  Viviane Reding: I firmly believe in net neutrality. I firmly believe in the principle of access for all. The Commission does not want to see a two-speed internet where the rich benefit and the poor suffer. As information and communications technologies (ICTs), and the internet is a fundamental driver of our economy our policy of net neutrality we feel will create a dynamic and innovative net economy and society that in turn will fuel our competitiveness. I will ensure in the new Telecom Package to be presented by the Commission on 13 November that these principles are once again reaffirmed.

Source : adslgr.com
Click here to shift to Greek version

We would like to thank Martin Selmayr, Mrs Redings’ Spokesman, for his contribution to our effort


See also :

• The 2007 Reform of the EU Telecom Rules
• The new Audiovisual Without Frontiers Directive

Additional information about Commissioner Reding:

• Official site
• Wikipedia