Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know

In a speech on Tuesday, European Telecoms Minister Erkki Liikanen announced that legal action could be brought against countries that have failed to take sufficient measures towards the unbundling of local telephone loops.
Mr Liikanen said, “local loop unbundling is one important means to achieve high-speed internet access for European users and consumers under competitive conditions.” However, as things currently stand, “relatively few unbundled lines have actually been made available, something approaching 500,000”.

He added, “the Commission can bring infringement proceedings where necessary,” though acknowledged that such action could be counter productive at this stage. He said he will wait until a further report is released in October before considering legal proceedings.

He acknowledged, “we do not underestimate the ability of the incumbent operators to drag their feet as much as possible in order to postpone competition”. He says reports have been received from “new entrant operators that incumbents are delaying provisioning….usually by insisting on cumbersome delivery procedures or rejecting orders on the basis of minor technicalities”.

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