Reforms introduced eight years ago to open the telecommunications market have cut prices and offered customers new services, but some former state monopolies retain too strong a grip, the European Commission said on Monday.
"Some markets are not open enough to competition," EU Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding said. Some incumbent companies retain too much control over fixed-line and mobile markets, the report from the EU's executive arm said.
It also said there was a particular need to cut the cost of using mobile phones abroad. Reding expressed concerns about Deutsche Telekom's proposed 3 billion euro (US$3.56 billion) high-speed network. The commission wants to ensure such infrastructure is open to competing operators.
Monopolies
"The future of our telecom market is not in the establishment of new monopolies to replace the old, which over the years we have managed to dismantle," Reding said at a news conference.
The former German state-owned telephone company plans to roll out a high-speed optical fiber network that will transmit data up to 20 times faster than current offerings. The plan is to provide Germany's 50 largest cities high-speed broadband lines by 2007.
The German government originally had agreed with Deutsche Telekom's argument that it could only make a decent profit on the network if it was exempt from any requirement to offer its lines to rivals. The commission called the arrangement unfair.
Although the two sides agreed in December that the network would be regulated and competitors would be given access to the new network, the extent of the regulation hasn't been determined. In particular, the question remains open if the markets such as "triple-play" services for TV, Internet and Web-telephones would remain exempt from regulation.
Reding said she had written to the German government about the issue last week.
Broadband use rises
The commission's report showed big increases in the use of broadband Internet connections and mobile-phone ownership in the EU. However, it criticized continuing high roaming mobile-phone prices. The commission said it could propose regulation on the issue before the summer.
Another problem is high prices for mobile phone calls to fixed lines, which are eight to 10 times the level of calls between fixed lines, the report said.
Overall, Reding said the report was positive, showing that an influx of new players has helped the price of traditional fixed voice calls to fall by 1.6 percent a year over the past eight years.
Meanwhile, the success of liberalization in the telecoms sector shows the way forward for other EU industries, Reding said.
"It is a real success story for the internal market, and a good example of the way the market should develop for energy and transport," the commissioner told reporters.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique