 Across the European Union (EU) as a whole, mobile phone penetration has reached almost 93 per cent, hitting 100 per cent in eight member states, according to a new report from the European Commission on European electronic communications regulation and markets.
EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media, Viviane
Reding, commented: 'My objectives in this review process are strengthening
investment through infrastructure-based competition, promoting innovation
through openness of the rules for new technologies, and completing the single
market by making the application of EU rules more consistent across the 25
Member States.'
The Commission's assessment, published on 20 February, is
that EU member states have made good progress in transposing into national law the
2002 EU telecom rules designed to open up markets to competition. As a result,
telecom operators are investing in new technologies in order to cut costs and
exploit new opportunities.
In particular, the report highlights the rapid take up of
broadband internet connections in Europe, and the rapidly maturing market for
mobile voice services, where significant growth is now mainly restricted to the
new member states.
'Increased regulatory certainty has been stimulating
cross-border capital investment and mergers/acquisitions [...] and we are
seeing the first signs of pan-European expansion strategies,' adds the
Commission.
The report also highlights the need to reduce international
roaming charges when using a mobile phone abroad, to raise awareness of
Europe's 112 emergency number, and to avoid burdening emerging internet
telephony services with excessive regulation. Read the full report
By Dr Mike Cooke
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