Telecommunications regulation international standards [EBRD

In its work on telecommunications regulatory reform, the EBRD promotes these international standards:

The World Trade Organisation Agreement on Basic Telecommunications Services

The telecommunications policy and legislation of the European Union.

The Bank supports its EU pre-accession countries efforts to achieve compliance with the acquis communautaire. The European Union stipulates adoption of the telecommunications acquis communautaire as a pre-condition of its pre-accession strategy. This requires EU accession countries to adopt European Union Directives on policy, regulation and legislation. Other countries are working towards adoption of the European Union Directives even though they have not yet signed an Accession Document or are not part of the accession process.

European Union telecommunications regulatory standards

The main objectives of the European Union telecommunications regulatory framework are:

Market structure should ensure efficient allocation of resources, technical efficiency, innovative efficiency and fair competition. This requires the implementation of cost-oriented and non-excessive prices; minimising the cost of production; provision of new and innovative services that satisfy evolving user needs; and ensuring fair network access and interconnection conditions and the absence of predatory pricing.

Market structure should ensure that services are available in the geographical markets in which they are demanded. In particular the availability of cross-border services should be promoted in the European Union, which historically has been characterised by fragmentation into national markets.

Universal Service should be achieved. Universal Service policy seeks to ensure that telecommunications services essential to full social and economic inclusion, such as basic voice telephony, are available to everybody at an affordable price.

The major task of regulators has been to define a transition strategy from monopolistic to competitive market structures, while ensuring these policy objectives. As some of the objectives potentially conflict with each other, the right balance between them needs to be achieved. To this end, European Union legislation is founded on two complementary principles: liberalisation and harmonisation.

Implementation of these principles has led to several Directives which, when combined, provide a comprehensive framework for the regulation and development of telecommunications throughout the European Union. More about the EU telecommunications framework.

The 2003 European Union telecommunications regulatory framework

The existing legislative framework was primarily designed to manage the transition from monopoly to competition and was therefore focused on creating a competitive market and the rights of new entrants. The current European Union framework required the European Commission to review the operation of the Directives making up the regulatory framework in light of developments in the market, technological evolution and changes in consumer demand. Accordingly, following extensive review in 1999, together with detailed public consultation, the proposals were published for updating of the European Union Telecommunications Regulatory Framework.

This new policy framework takes account of sector developments, in particular the convergence between telecommunications, broadcasting and information technology sectors. It is therefore designed to cater for new, dynamic and largely unpredictable markets with many more players than today. The new framework consists of five Directives covering: Framework, Access and Interconnection, Authorisations, Universal Service and Data Protection, together with the Regulation on Local Loop Unbundling passed in December 2000. All these Directives are now in place and available at europa.eu.int/information.

The new regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services will be applied in all Member States from 25 July 2003 and will replace the current framework. Thus all European Union Member States must adapt national legislation implementing the directives by 24 July 2003 .

World Trade Organisation Telecommunications Regulatory Standards

The basic World Trade Organisation (WTO) document relevant for telecommunications is the Reference Paper on Basic Telecommunications. WTO candidate countries are required to make commitments reflecting the standards contained in the Reference Paper before they are admitted to the WTO.

Basic telecommunications is not defined in the Reference Paper. But it is generally understood to cover market access in network infrastructure and services involving real-time transmission of customer's information without change in form or content. This includes local, long distance and international fixed line and cellular voice telephony, data, paging regardless of how defined nationally.

The Reference Paper includes commitments to:

Maintain appropriate safeguards to prevent suppliers who, alone or together, are a major supplier from engaging in anti-competitive practices, in particular:

Anti-competitive cross-subsidisation.
Anti-competitive use of information obtained from competitors.
Withholding from other service providers timely technical and commercial information necessary for them to provide services.

Establish interconnection with suppliers providing public telecommunications transport networks or services:

Under non-discriminatory terms, conditions, and rates.
In a timely fashion.
On terms, conditions and cost-oriented rates that are transparent, reasonable, have economic feasibility, and are sufficiently unbundled so that the supplier need not pay for network components/facilities not required for the service to be provided.
Upon request, at points in addition to the network termination points offered to the majority of users, subject to charges that reflect the cost of construction to necessary facilities.

Administer non-discriminatory universal service obligations.

Use transparent, licensing criteria.

Establish a regulator independent from any services supplier.

Use objective, timely, transparent, and non-discriminatory proceduresfor allocation of scarce resources such as radio frequencies, numbers, and rights-of-way.

International Coordination

Alignment of national legislation with the telecommunications acquis communautaire and the WTO agreements along with stricter enforcement is already prompting structural changes and is driving preparatory reform work. It is clear, however, that countries making these changes will require significant external assistance to devise and implement the radical but necessary changes. The EBRD's strategic objectives are well aligned with those of other institutions and its regional partners - the European Union, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations, etc. - and will continue to play a major role in the region.