New EU Communications Body (can you hear us?)
Yesterday I retweeted a link to an article which appeared in Abu Dhabi’s The National entitled Genuine competition needed in telecoms.
The article is extremely pertinent and timely given Thursday’s IRG/ERG press release regarding the creation of BEREC, the election of its officers and secretariat and the decision to locate the body in Brussels. (Acronym apologies.)
Below are two quotes from The National story:
In the UK, when there was little or no competition in broadband service, some business customers preferred sharing what broadband they had by illegally reselling or “pairing” it. The much maligned British Telecom took a lot of flak for this, and rightly so. When Ben Verwaayen joined BT as the chief executive in 2002, he recognised the problem and put broadband at the heart of the company. He even appointed the company’s first chief broadband officer to make it clear to all the staff that this was the organisations number one objective.
When it comes to mobile roaming charges in the UK and Europe, then it is an entirely different story. The operators there have been sluggish and far from benevolent.
A UK-based Vodafone customer travelling anywhere in Europe would pay €0.43 per minute to make a call back home and €0.18 to receive a call, Vodafone’s website said. Similarly an Etisalat mobile customer roaming in Bahrain would pay Dh2.50 (€0.48) to make a call back home and Dh2.18 (€0.42) to receive a call, according to Etisalat’s website. Not much difference.
The reason for this is that in Europe the mobile operators have been running a cosy cartel for as long as anyone can remember. Commercial arrangements and interconnect agreements have been done on a nod and a wink. They have maintained price parity with one another, offered similar service levels and tried not to upset the apple cart. The customer has been the loser.
A couple of reasons are cited in the IRG press release regarding the location of BEREC’s secretariat in Brussels including:
Proximity to the EU Institutions is crucial to the successful operation of BEREC. One of the roles of the Office is to facilitate BEREC’s communication with the EU Institutions, and its co-location with those Institutions is therefore important to enable it to carry out its role fully.
Proximity to BEREC’s Expert Working Groups, which the Office is responsible for helping to set up and support, is also crucial. Brussels has been, and is likely to remain, the preferred location for meetings of BEREC Expert Working Groups, given the need for close co-operation between BEREC and the Commission under the revised Framework and, in particular, under the new market review procedures.
Transparency and Interaction with Stakeholders. The Office will also help ensure that BEREC’s activities are transparent to stakeholders and to help BEREC be responsive to them. Locating the Office in Brussels would make BEREC easily accessible to stakeholder organisations, as well as the many media outlets with European operations, based in Brussels.
In the IRG press release, incoming chair of BEREC, John Doherty said:
“The establishment of BEREC is a significant development in the evolution of electronic communications sector throughout the EU. It will contribute to achieving the goal of a single market for European electronic communications. The creation of BEREC will give national regulators throughout the European Union a formal role at the highest level in the EU to bring about change and reform to the benefit of industry and consumers.
“2010 will be a very challenging year for the electronic communications sector throughout Europe. BEREC will play a full role in ensuring the further development of the EU-wide communications market for the benefit of all consumers and businesses.
“Developments are taking place across a range of markets, with consumers being offered a greater range of services due to changes in technology, growing convergence and enhanced competition. The purpose of BEREC is to ensure the consistent application throughout the EU of the regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services. As part of its activities during 2010, BEREC will hold a public consultation on its work programme.”
All of which sounds encouraging. Are you detecting a note of cynicism in my voice? I’ve all but given up expecting UK telecoms industry views to be acknowledged, but I sincerely hope that the voice of UK citizen consumer is heard in Brussels because it’s having one hell of a time reaching Southwark Bridge.
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:16 am
Well said
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:44 am
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
February 7th, 2010 at 9:40 am
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June 21st, 2010 at 10:54 am
Kieron, good article.