The European Commission's eCommunications Consultation Task Force (eCCTF) has published five new letters, concerning notifications which were made by the National Regulatory Authorities of Ireland, the United Kingdom and Portugal.

The letters concern the following topics:

Ireland: Wholesale broadcast transmission (Market 18) and Remedies for Wholesale Broadband Access (Market 12).

The letter on Market 12 constitutes a major precedent, in that it validates ComReg's approach which enables it, de facto, to block retail products until a wholesale offer enables competitors of the SMP operator to replicate the retail products without incurring a margin squeeze, and this without the definition of a separate retail market for broadband access.

UK: Wholesale Fixed Narrowband (Call Origination and Wholesale Line Rental - various markets) 'cancel other' issues.

Portugal: Wholesale Unbundled Access (Market 11) and Wholesale Broadband Access (Market 12).

The letter on Market 12 is significant because it further emphasises the European Commission's stance on the issue of the status of cable-tv networks in the context of the market definition (see also the recent T-REGS presentation which touches upon this topic), while taking into account the particular situation in Portugal, where cable-tv-based retail broadband services are more widespread than xDSL-based retail broadband services, and the fixed incumbent PSTN/xDSL operator is also the major operator of cable-tv-based broadband access.

The letters have been added to the .ZIP repositories of eCCTF letters, which can be accessed by clicking on Documents at the upper right of the T-REGS home page. Downloading the eCCTF letters is available for registered users only, but registration is free and subject to our Terms of Use, including our Privacy Statement.