Interview-Key EU lawmaker backs telco company split
April 2nd, 2008 | by admin |By Huw Jones
BRUSSELS, April 2 (Reuters) - A disputed option of splittingup big telecoms operators into different business units to boostcompetition will be backed in a crucial report on draft EuropeanUnion telecoms legislation, an EU lawmaker said on Wednesday.
The European Union’s executive European Commission has putforward a package of proposals to update the bloc’s telecomsrules to take into account advances in technology.
The European Parliament and EU states have joint final saybut big telecoms groups like France Telecom (FTE.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), DeutscheTelekom (DTEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) and Telefonica (TEF.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) oppose a proposalknown as functional separation.
This would give all national regulators the option ofsplitting operators into business units as a last resort toincrease competition by making it easier for rivals to accessnetworks and offer competing services.
“I am not removing it from the Commission’s proposal,” saidCatherine Trautmann, the French socialist who is steering partsof the package through the EU assembly.
“It’s a nuclear option but I also want to make sure itcannot create a situation we don’t want,” Trautmann toldReuters.
She publishes her draft response to the Commission proposalslater this month and said it will include several major changes,some of which other parties and EU states will challenge.
Trautmann said functional separation should only beintroduced after an extra hurdle of an indepth study.
