Internet usage could be helped by new EU telecoms package, while Estonia tops candidate countries' Internet league
The European Parliament reached a compromise on 10 December, brokered by the Belgian Presidency, to help realise the goals of telecommunications market liberalisation that was envisaged by the Lisbon Council in 2000. This set the date for the telecommunications reforms, some of which are contained in the new telecoms package, to be in place by the end of 2001. The reforms were seen as a major element of realising the information society and should result in cheaper and easier access to the Internet. Some of the main elements of the package involve clarifying the role of NRAs (national regulatory authorities) and Commission's ability to overrule them, clarifying rules for market access and balancing regulation and investment. All parties welcomed the capacity for compromise that had been shown. Meanwhile in the candidate countries, the latest Eurostat figures show that Estonia has the highest usage among its population of Internet usage, at 26.3 per cent. It is far ahead of the average usage for candidate countries, which is 6.7 per cent, compared to the 24.3 per cent average for the EU Member States. Estonia was followed Slovenia (15.2 per cent), Poland (13.5 per cent), Slovakia (13 per cent), Cyprus (10.6 per cent), the Czech republic (9.7 per cent), Malta (9.6 per cent), Hungary (6.4 per cent). Those with the lowest scores were Turkey (2.9 per cent), Romania (3.1 per cent) and Bulgaria (5.2 per cent).