TELECOMMUNICATIONS : ECTA OPPOSED TO CHANGES IN 'RELEVANT MARKETS'.

The association for newcomers on the telecoms market, ECTA, is opposed to deregulation of the wholesale market for telephony and to the development of 'virtual' access to broadband installations. According to Erzsebet Fitori, director of ECTA,a"the key bottlenecks of today are those of yesterday and will be those of tomorrow". Therefore, "why change a regime that is working well?" added ECTA's President, Tom Ruhan.

The European Commission proposed in a draft recommendation on 'relevant markets' in the telecommunications sector, published on 24 January(1), that legislation should be changed. The EU executive wants to withdraw wholesale markets for fixed telephony from the list of regulated markets, saying that currently there is enough competition in this sector and therefore there is no need for national regulatory authorities to intervene and oblige incumbent operators to open up access to their installations.

One of the Commission's arguments is that consumers can now call using the internet, with services such as Skype, WhatsApp and ChatOn, which means there is more competition on the telephony market. However, the Commission's assessment does not take into account the fact that "only around 61% of European households have broadband access," and...