Luxembourg

European Commission: Broadband Markets in Luxembourg Further Opened to Competition

IRIS 2007-1:1/39

Katerina Maniadaki

Institute for Information Law (IViR), University of Amsterdam

The European Commission has welcomed a regulatory measure of the Institut Luxembourgeois de Régulation (telecom regulator) , giving new market entrants high-speed access to end-customers via the broadband networks of Luxembourg’s telecom incumbent, Entreprise des Postes et Télécommunications (EPT).

The measures concerned were notified to the Commission on 29 September 2006 in accordance with EU telecom rules. EPT is required to allow new entrants to purchase a high-speed access link to the customer premises via its broadband infrastructures. The Commission particularly welcomed the fact that such a requirement is imposed upon Luxembourg’s telecom incumbent independently of the technology used by it (ADSL 2, ADSL 2+ or VDSL). According to the Commission, the access obligation on EPT should serve to ensure effective competition in the broadband market and allow competitors to offer their own, value-added services to end-users thereby benefiting consumers in terms of choice, price and quality. In addition, opening up the relevant market to competition will encourage - in the longer run - efficient investment in infrastructure by the new entrants.

Although the notified measures concerned access to the wholesale broadband market in the Internet protocol (IP)-mode, the Commission left open the possibility that, should the retail prices in Luxembourg remain high, it may be necessary for Luxembourg’s telecom regulator to impose further bitstream access at levels other than IP.