ECTA fears uncompetitive future for Europe's broadband market
There will not be a competitive broadband market in Europe unless governments and regulators show a greater willingness to unbundle the local loop. These were the comments of Phil Evins, Managing Director of the European competitive telecommunications association (ECTA) on the recent publication of its DSL scorecard, which shows the level and pace of broadband penetration across the European Union. According to the report, DSL (digital subscriber line) provides roughly three times as many broadband connections as cable; reinforcing the point that mass market broadband provision can only come through DSL. Over one million DSLs have been added across the EU in the last quarter, but only three per cent of these connections are over unbundled local loops. Incumbent operators retail 80-90 per cent, on average, of the remainder of DSL connections. Though the UK has the highest level of retail DSL competition in Europe, British Telecom still holds 60 per cent of the DSL retail market. In France and Germany the incumbent has over 90 per cent of the market. 'Incumbents are extending their dominance from retail voice into the new broadband market', said Mr Evins. 'Local loop unbundling (LLU) is not working, partly due to the high up-front costs, but also because of the excessive pricing and provisioning delays by the incumbents. 'ECTA believes that we need a twin-track response by policymakers: stronger enforcement of existing LLU law by both the European Commission and National regulatory authorities, coupled with new measures to introduce effective cost-orientated DSL interconnection.' Mr Evins cited European Commission market analysis, which showed that while 6,000 local loops were being unbundled every week, incumbents are rolling out 65,000 DSL connections per week - ten times more. "If politicians, governments and regulators do not show the political will to implement DSL interconnection now, there simply will not be a competitive broadband market in Europe," he concluded.