EU telecom reforms fall short of proposals

European telecom commissioner Viviane Reding has long argued for the creation of a pan-European telecom regulatory body that would have more authority than any individual national regulatory group on the continent. The European Parliament last week voted to support the creation of a new pan-continental group, but one with strong involvement from the national bodies that the Reding proposal was looking to overrule.

That means countries in which incumbent telcos still have some government ownership may still see the national governments there govern telecom matters with a soft hand.

The parliament did endorse the idea of creating a single market for telecom services, and also endorsed structural separation of telcos--but only if the new pan-European regulatory agency and the European Commission agreed that it was the only viable method for improving telecom competition in a given country.

For more:
- see this report from the Associated Press

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