EC clears amended Spanish broadband regulation

bealtine

EC clears amended Spanish broadband regulation Monday 29 December 2008 | 08:24 AM CET

The European Commission has given permission to the Spanish draft regulation on wholesale broadband access, notified by the Spanish regulator CMT. The EC believes that the revised version of the draft measures addresses some of the issues on which the EC expressed serious doubts. The EC still believes that regulation of wholesale broadband access should not be limited to speeds of up to 30 Mbps. On 4 December, the CMT notified a revised version of the draft measures. The amended text no longer defines the relevant product market with regard to the 30 Mbps speed limit and excludes cable and LLU from the relevant market. The latter is justified by the weak competitive constraints that cable and LLU exercise on Telefonica at the retail level, even in densely populated areas which reinforces the conclusion that the relevant geographic market is national. Also, the CMT no longer differentiates remedies geographically. Although CMT had defined the relevant market as including all speeds, it proposes to impose wholesale broadband access only for speeds of up to 30 Mbps. The EC considers that there is a risk that this could hinder the competitive process in Spain, as there is no evidence that entrants will be able to match the large-scale fibre deployment plans of Telefonica in the near future. With a fibre-based wholesale broadband access product which is limited in speed, Telefonica could pre-empt the market for retail broadband services during the deployment of fibre in Spain. To prevent this from happening, the EC invites the CMT to impose remedies for wholesale access products also in excess of 30 Mbps. Under current EU Telecommunication rules, the EC can veto an incorrect market analysis by a national regulator, but not an incorrect remedy. Therefore, in the present case, while the EC tackled the 30 Mbps threshold at the level of the market definition it is limited to expressing concerns regarding a remedy having an equivalent outcome.

Sponge Bob

bealtine wrote: »

Under current EU Telecommunication rules, the EC can veto an incorrect market analysis by a national regulator, but not an incorrect remedy

Intruiging

bealtine

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Intruiging

Even more intriguing is the fact that the Spanish actually regulate broadband, don't Comreg bleat on about not having the ability to regulate broadband here?

So if other EU countries can do it why can't Comreg? What's the impediment?
Who says they can't?

Sponge Bob

Wholesale BB this is , eg Bitstream .

Comreg do regulate it albeit in their typical flaccid insipid limp wristed manner ...or indeed not at all if you are Vodafone@Home and want a special 'bundle' lashed together

Comreg do their damndest not to regulate retail BB but as they do seemingly regulate consumers contracts with authorised operators they are simply lying when they say they do not regulate BB in any way.

bealtine

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Comreg do their damndest not to regulate retail BB but as they do seemingly regulate consumers contracts with authorised operators they are simply lying when they say they do not regulate BB in any way.

Comreg lying? You can't possibly be serious?
I've never heard of a regulator that lies, just like the Financial Services regulator always tells it like it is, now that'd be something interesting to take to the EU...

Sponge Bob

The EU would not know where to start . I believe that Damien has been assidously tootling into them over the years with full dossiers of lies , untruths and deceits peddled by Comreg . I am sure he could write an amusing , albeit sadly all too true , polemic on it

I think the technicality on this Spanish one is that the regulators were told to analyse the BB market over 2mbits and the BB market under 2 mbits ( a 2002 era directive ) .

This would be the demarcation between a standard leased line and a high capacity one back in the day .

They cannot split the market above and below 30mbits as things stand. It is all or nothing above 2mbits .

Having said that the current 3mbit bitstream product started as a 1mbit product some 5 years ago and was gradually ported up to 3mbits . The current 7.6mbit bitstream product was a 2mbit once .

But enough head wrecking Bealtine, happy new year

lucernarian

Point of note: the 7.6 mbit bitstream service started out as a 512/128 kbps service, which cost €108 in 2002, in the 40 Dublin exchanges which got it. I'm not sure if anyone kept the ADSL service in Ennis. Eircom halved the price a few months or a year later and it has remained at €54 ever since:)