Spain transposed the EU directives on electronic communications networks and services into national law on 4 Nov 2003, but implementation decrees and market reviews have not followed quickly thereafter.

The Spanish regulatory authority, the Comisión del Mercado de Telecomunicaciones (CMT) has now published four extensive pre-consultation documents and a statement explaining its approach to the market analysis procedure.

The CMT pre-consultation documents cover the definition and analysis of the following markets (each addressing retail and wholesale elements):

1) Direct access to the public telephone network, at a fixed location.

2) Traffic (telephone calls), from a fixed location.

3) Access and traffic on data networks with a permanent connection, from a fixed location (focusing on broadband access).

4) Mobile access and origination (focusing on mobile telephony and SMS).

Comments from interested parties are invited by 20 Aug 2004.

The full text (in Spanish) of the CMT pre-consultation documents can be accessed by clicking on the titles 1 to 4 above.

The statement of the CMT explaining its approach to the market analysis (which contains clearer references to the 18 markets of the European Commission Recommendation on Relevant Markets than the pre-consultation documents) can be accessed by clicking here.