The European Commission announced today that it is formally instructing the German regulatory authority RegTP to withdraw a draft measure in which it had proposed not to designate 53 fixed alternative network operators as having Significant Market Power on the markets for call termination on individual public telephone networks provided at a fixed location (Market 9).
Update: The full text of the decision has now become available and has been added to the T-REGS repository of veto decisions. The Commission also issued a press release as well as a lengthy FAQ in which it explains in great detail the motivations for its decision.
T-REGS Note: Issuing this type of detailed additional justification material to the press is not common practice, and highlights the particular importance of this case.
In the FAQ, reference is made not only to Market 9, but also to mobile call termination (Market 16) and to the treatment of VoIP (in particular in the context of Markets 1-6).
For detailed background information on this case, please refer to a previous T-REGS news item, which discussed the initiation of a Phase II investigation, and the letter in which the eCCTF expressed “serious doubts” about the RegTP notification for Market 9.
The European Commission press release can be accessed by clicking here. The accompanying FAQ can be accessed by clicking here.
For a discussion, please contact Yves Blondeel or Alexa Veller.
Note on EU / France: The eCCTF letters relating to market definition and market analysis of local loop unbundling (Market 11) and wholesale broadband access (Market 12) in France have been published today, but they contain no European Commission comments at all. This is an important development, given that there have been major discussions in France, especially on the treatment of xDSL bitstream access with national hand-over. Please refer to previous T-REGS news items for information on wholesale broadband access and local loop unbundling in France. The eCCTF letters have been added to the repository, which can be accessed by clicking on ‘Documents’ at the top right of this website.