Impact of the interconnection of telecommunications networks and services on financial settlement arrangements for international traffic
The European Commission, DG XIII, has published call for proposals for a study entitled 'Study of the impact of the interconnection of telecommunications networks and services on financial settlement arrangements for international traffic'. The study will cover the impact of the interconnection of telecommunications networks and services on financial settlement arrangements for international traffic. It will cover the following areas: - Identification of how forthcoming liberalization of the European telecommunications sector will affect the arrangements for financial settlements for intra-European and international traffic. The focus should be on market developments, but the place of bilateral carrier arrangements after 1998 should also be examined; - Analysis of current and emerging structures of international traffic routing and service offerings, and identify the main drivers of future developments; - Combine the work of the above to develop a picture of the changes which are likely to occur in future structures governing the routing and financial settlements of both intra-EC and international traffic. The impact of traffic resale, carrier to carrier operations, card-based services, unbalanced market conditions, reciprocity arrangements and WTO developments should also be taken into account. For further information, please contact: European Commission Directorate-General for Telecommunications, Information Market and Exploitation of Research DG XIII/A Administrative Sector 200 rue de la Loi (BU 9/5-176) B-1049 Brussels Tel. +32-2-2968342; Fax +32-2-2968393