FRANKFURT (Reuters) -An alliance of smaller European telecoms companies has spoken out against EU plans for laxer regulation in the fixed network business, according to an open letter published on Thursday.
The signatories, which included Vodafone, Iliad and 1&1, warned that a relaxation of the regulations for the respective market leaders in their countries that they compete with would lead to a “re-monopolisation”.
The European Commission’s proposals were a “step backwards,” contradicted EU competition principles and would stifle the expansion of fibre optic broadband, the letter said.
Signatories of the letter called on the authorities to stick to the current model, which requires respective market leaders such as Deutsche Telecom in Germany to grant competitors access to their infrastructure under fixed conditions.
The expansion of fibre optic networks has long been a contentious issue, with smaller telecoms companies feeling disadvantaged by market leaders, mostly former monopolists.
Earlier this month, Germany’s Bundestag parliament passed a law to accelerate the expansion of fibre optic and mobile networks.
(Reporting by Hakan Ersen, Writing by Friederike HeineEditing by Ludwig Burger)
