Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-02-19-Speech-2-340"
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"en.20080219.31.2-340"2
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"The high-speed internet is the internet of the future, and we would not like this internet to be available only to some. This is why the information society for all is one of the Lisbon Strategy postulates for open and competitive markets. Because our regulatory instruments today, even before the reform, enable this open approach to the e-communications framework – it is also bolstered by general competition rules – this has made markets too open to competition, which in turn has driven the roll-out of broadband access networks in Europe.
I am worried that in some countries it worked well – these are the countries where competition is functioning well, where you have penetration rates of up to 37%, even 40% – whereas in some other countries the penetration rates are very low. I would like to get rid of this variation. I would like to bring those who are in the very low category up the ladder. This is why the Commission proposes, as part of the reform, to enable the Commission to oversee the regulatory remedies put in place by national regulatory authorities, backed up by the possibility of the national regulatory authorities imposing functional separation if they think it necessary in order to open the markets.
In parallel, the Commission deals with anti-competitive behaviour as a priority. For instance, in 2003 we fined France Télécom and Deutsche Telekom for abusive behaviour in the broadband markets and, most recently, on 4 July 2007 the Commission fined Telefónica for having abused its dominant position by margin squeeze in the Spanish broadband market.
I would also like to say that a communication was issued in March 2006 on bridging the broadband gap. I really believe that we need broadband for all, and this is why I believe we need to have national broadband strategies which reflect regional and local needs.
Moving to the question raised about transparency, the Commission is about to launch a web portal that should start to operate around May-June 2008 on the question of broadband and the citizens.
Last but not least, the Commission has a favourable view regarding the use of public funds, including EU funds – Structural Funds – to extend broadband in areas where commercial deployment is inadequate. Several such projects have already been established.
We also support the development of information societies through regional policy. A provisional estimate puts the investment at about EUR 15 billion, which is 4.4% of the total spending for the period 2007-2013, and of this figure EUR 2.2 billion is expected to be spent on broadband infrastructures. Through these combined efforts we hope that the penetration figures of today – where we have, incidentally, four world leaders in broadband penetration – will make many more countries leaders in the world and particularly in Europe."@en1
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