The Dutch Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal (College van Beroep voor het Bedrijfsleven - CBB) has granted the appeals filed against the OPTA decisions of 14 Nov 2005 and 31 May 2006 relating to the wholesale markets for voice call termination on individual mobile networks. 

The Tribunal has proceeded to completely annul the OPTA decisions, which relate to the wholesale call termination charges of KPN Mobile/Telfort, Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange and Tele2. This decision affects the entire programme of reductions of wholesale mobile call termination charges, including the reduction which came into effect on 1 July 2006. 

OPTA is directed to take new decisions with regard to the market for voice call termination on individual mobile networks (Market 16 of the European Commission's Recommendation on Relevant Markets Susceptible to Ex-Ante Regulation), taking into account the ruling of the Tribunal. 

Only the decision to grant the appeals has been published at this stage. It can be accessed (in Dutch) by clicking here. The full content and reasoning of the ruling will be sent to the parties and will be published within two weeks.

Update 28 August 2006: The European Commission’s letter has now been published. Pages 3-6 of the letter contain comments on the regulatory obligations proposed by the German regulatory authority BNetzA.

Key comments by the European Commission in its letter SG-Greffe(2006)D/204686 include the following:

Scope of the access obligation

The European Commission welcomes that the access obligation includes bitstream over all variants of infrastructure, including ADSL2, ADSL2+, SDSL and VDSL “unless they are not substitutes to other bitstream access products”, and goes on to comment:

"[…] Against this background and in order to provide regulatory certainty the Commission finds it appropriate for BNetzA to set out explicitly that remedies in the present case also relate to the VDSL network. In view of the VDSL-based retail products that DT has recently launched, such an application of remedies should no longer be postponed.” and […] the Commission has at present no indication of a lack of substitution between VDSL and other xDSL products, whether at retail or at wholesale level. It is recalled in particular that a mere upgrade of an existing service (such as an offering with a higher bandwidth) is not considered in itself to constitute a new market. The Commission hence considers that the question about the substitutability between bitstream access to VDSL connections and other forms of bitstream access should be answered positively from the outset. Excluding DT’s VDSL-based infrastructure from the access obligation would jeopardise the effectiveness of that obligation to the detriment of competition in the downstream market and of the consumer. […]"

Stand alone bitstream access

The letter also reveals that the European Commission asked BNetzA to confirm whether “stand-alone bitstream access” (i.e. wholesale “naked-DSL”, the ability to obtain wholesale broadband access without a requirement for the end-user to have a PSTN/ISDN subscription from Deutsche Telekom) would be mandated, and that BNetzA replied that this would be introduced “in parallel with the European harmonised development”.

The European Commission comments on this as follows:

"The Commission asks BNetzA to impose this remedy without delay in order to enable competitors to offer broadband connections to end customers without an obligation to buy a telephone connection from DT. This would stimulate competition in particular in rural areas less susceptible to local loop unbundling, where competition on the retail services is particularly weak in Germany. Such an offer will also provide an adequate means to increase competition in the retail voice markets via Voice over IP."

Effective price regulation

The European Commission criticises BNetzA’s lack of clarity in its approach to wholesale charge regulation for bitstream access, rejects benchmarking as a means to set the wholesale charges, and concludes its comments on this issue as follows:

"[…] the Commission asks BNetzA to impose either retail minus or cost-oriented price control. If BNetzA chooses cost-orientation, it is invited, in order to increase transparency, to communicate to the market players a cost model on which cost-orientation will be based."

The European Commission’s letter also contains information and comments on the number of points of connection/access (confirmation that the competitors can freely choose the points and are not obliged to interconnect at all points) and insists that BNetzA should swiftly notify its proposals for ATM bitstream access. 

T-REGS Note: It will be seen from the citations above that the European Commission has issued an exceptionally strongly worded statement. These are comments of which the German regulatory authority ‘shall take the utmost account’ (article 7.5 of the Framework Directive 2002/21/EC) but are not directly applicable in the Member State concerned. BNetzA must now adopt a final decision, and Deutsche Telekom will be required to publish a reference offer for IP bitstream access within 3 months from the publication of the final BNetzA decision. 

The full text of the European Commission's letter SG-Greffe(2006)D/204686 can be accessed by clicking here.

For a discussion of IP bitstream access and issues relating to VDSL roll-out in Germany, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

(the previous T-REGS news item on this topic - containing links to the European Commission press release and FAQ - remains available) 

The European Commission today adopted Commissioner Reding's proposal to make use of the unusual instrument of a Regulation to address wholesale charges and retail tariffs for international roaming on public mobile networks.

The full text of the 'Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on roaming on public mobile networks within the Community and amending Directive 2002/21/EC on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services' can be accessed by clicking here.

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The essence of the proposal is as follows:

Wholesale level

Article 3: Wholesale charges for the making of regulated roaming calls

The total wholesale charge that the operator of a visited network may levy from the operator of the roaming customer’s home network for the provision of a regulated roaming call, including inter alia origination, transit and termination, shall not exceed the applicable amount per minute determined in accordance with Annex I.

ANNEX I

The total wholesale charges that the operator of a visited network may levy from the operator of the roaming customer’s home network for the making of a regulated roaming call originating on that visited network shall not exceed, on a per-minute basis, an amount equal to the average mobile termination rate published pursuant to Article 10(3) multiplied:

a) by a factor of two, in the case of a regulated roaming call to a number assigned to a public telephone network in the Member State in which the visited network is located; or

b) by a factor of three, in the case of a regulated roaming call to a number assigned to a public telephone network in a Member State other than that in which the visited network is located. The charge limits in this Annex shall include any fixed elements, such as call set-up charges.

Retail level

Article 4: Retail charges for the making of regulated roaming calls

Subject to Article 5, the total retail charge, excluding VAT, which a home provider may levy from its roaming customer for the provision of a regulated roaming call may not exceed 130% of the applicable maximum wholesale charge for that call determined in accordance with Annex I. The charge limits in this Article shall include any fixed elements associated with the provision of regulated roaming calls, such as call set up charges or opt-in fees.

Article 5: Timing of application of maximum retail charge limits for regulated roaming calls

The obligations in Article 4 shall take effect six months after the entry into force of this Regulation.

Article 6: Retail charges for the receipt of calls while roaming in the Community

The total retail charge, excluding VAT, which a home provider may levy from its roaming customer in respect of the receipt by that customer of voice telephony calls while roaming on a visited network shall not exceed, on a per minute basis, 130% of the average mobile termination rate published pursuant to Article 10(3). The charge limits in this Article shall include any fixed elements associated with the provision of regulated roaming calls, such as one-off charges or opt-in fees.

T-REGS Note: As will be seen from the text above, the proposal is that only voice calls would be subject to wholesale and retail price regulation. However, a role is reserved for the National Regulatory Authorities for messaging services, expressed as follows:

Article 8.6 National regulatory authorities shall monitor developments in wholesale and retail prices for the provision to roaming customers of voice and data communications services, including the Short Message Service (SMS) and the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), in particular in the outermost regions of the Community, and shall communicate the results of such monitoring to the Commission on request.

An interesting aspect going forward will be the implementation and enforcement. In this regard, we draw attention to the following:

Article 9: Penalties

The Member States shall lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of the provisions of this Regulation and shall take all measures necessary to ensure that they are implemented. The penalties provided for must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. The Member States shall notify those provisions to the Commission not later than six months following the entry into force of this Regulation and shall notify it without delay of any subsequent amendment affecting them.

As regards the inclusion of the wholesale international mobile roaming market in the Revised Recommendation on Relevant Markets Susceptible to Ex-Ante Regulation (this market is included in the list in Annex of the Consultation Document), page 10 of the explanatory document associated with today's proposal contains a statement as follows:

For an in-depth discussion of this key development, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Today, the European Commission issued two essential public consultation documents (and associated documents), which are of key importance given that they contain proposals which will structure the future regulatory framework for electronic communications from 2007 onwards.

The documents in question are a proposal for a revised Recommendation on Relevant Markets Susceptible to Ex-Ante Regulation (to be valid from the first quarter of 2007) and indications of proposed revisions to be made to the EU directives on Electronic Communications (to be valid from 2009 onwards, although more likely in the next century, depending on the timetable for adoption by the EU institutions and transposition into the national legislation of EU Member States).

The deadline for filing responses for both consultations is set at 27 Oct 2006.

The proposed revision of the Recommendation on Relevant Markets Susceptible to Ex-Ante Regulation now contains 12 identified markets, although it is clear that some of these markets are most likely to be further segmented by National Regulatory Authorities.   

The list is as follows:

Retail level

1. Access to the public telephone network at a fixed location for residential and nonresidential customers.

T-REGS Note: this implies that all retail telephone calls markets (3 to 6) are proposed to be removed, and that the retail leased lines market is proposed to be removed.

Wholesale level

2. Call termination on individual public telephone networks provided at a fixed location.

For the purposes of this Recommendation, call termination is taken to include local call conveyance and delineated in such a way as to be consistent with the delineated boundaries for the markets for call origination and for call transit on the public telephone network provided at a fixed location.

3. Call origination on the public telephone network provided at a fixed location.

For the purposes of this Recommendation, call origination is taken to include local call conveyance and delineated in such a way as to be consistent with the delineated boundaries for the markets for call transit and for call termination on the public telephone network provided at a fixed location.

4. Transit services in the fixed public telephone network.

For the purposes of this Recommendation, the boundaries of this market should be delineated in such a way as to be consistent with the delineated boundaries for the markets for call origination and for call termination on the public telephone network provided at a fixed location.

5. Wholesale unbundled access (including shared access) to metallic loops and subloops (or equivalent) for the purpose of providing broadband and voice services.

6. Wholesale broadband access.

This market covers ‘bit-stream’ access that permit the transmission of broadband data in both directions and other wholesale access provided over other infrastructures, if and when they offer facilities equivalent to bit-stream access.

7. Wholesale terminating segments of leased lines.

8. Wholesale trunk segments of leased lines

9. Voice call and SMS termination on individual mobile networks.

T-REGS Note: This includes, for the first time, wholesale SMS termination, and follows the proposals of the French regulatory authority ARCEP to define a separate market for wholesale SMS termination. It will be interesting to see whether NRAs will (if it is adopted as such) examine the market as defined by the Commission, or further segment this market.

10. Access and call origination on public mobile telephone networks*

11. Wholesale national market for international roaming on public mobile networks.

12. Broadcasting transmission services, to deliver broadcast content to end users*.

* The Commission notes that the number of notifications for these markets has been relatively limited (various analyses by the NRAs are still on-going). In view thereof and the complexity of issues raised, the Commission seeks particularly the stakeholders’ view on whether these markets should be retained in the revised version on the Recommendation.

The full text of the proposed revisions to the Recommendation on Relevant Markets (51 pages) containing the full text of the proposed Recommendation, the list of markets, and the proposed explanatory memorandum can be accessed by clicking here.

As regards the 2006 Review of the Regulatory Framework for Electronic Communications, the European Commission published three separate documents, which we have made clickable on the T-REGS website:

- Communication on the Review of the EU Regulatory Framework for electronic communications networks and services (12 pages).

- Staff Working Document which outlines in greater detail possible changes to the regulatory framework (37 pages)

- Impact Assessment (53 pages).

For a discussion of these documents, and of the associated process of consultation and decision-making leading up to the adoption of revisions to the regulatory framework, in the European Union, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Although this website is dedicated to telecommunications regulation, it is worth noting that on 13 June 2006, the GSM Association announced that, this weekend, it will celebrate the fact that more than 2 billion people are using GSM mobile telephony services, in 213 countries and territories.

We posted the announcement of 1 billion GSM users on this website on 24 Feb 2004.

It took essentially 15 years to reach one billion, while the second billion was reached in 18 months.

According to the GSM Association, (3)GSM represents 82.4% of all global mobile connections. Commercial 3GSM is live on 105 networks in 50 countries and territories.

The press release of the GSM Association can be accessed by clicking here.