New telcos beat chests over broadband access

The future of broadband services across Europe has been called into question by new telecoms entrants who have complained to the EU over the lack of access to vital parts of the network.

Executives from some of world's most powerful telcos - including Bernard Ebbers, CEO of Worldcom and David Wickham, head of Energis - have presented an open letter to EU competition commissioner Mario Monti warning that dominant incumbents like BT are hobbling competition by their "strategic incompetence" in giving access to local access leased lines.

This part of the network forms the last 50km of line between the customer and the competitors' infrastructure. The petitioners argue that this is the new battleground for broadband access, now that local loop unbundling has virtually ground to a halt.

Local regulators, such as Oftel in the UK, have also come under fire in the letter for being ineffective.

The letter to the EU commissioner said: "Consumers and businesses across Europe are being denied the benefits of a competitive telecoms market. Without swift action on your part the bottleneck control that incumbents currently wield will stifle nascent competition and harm economic growth opportunities across Europe."

The 13 signatories of the letter complained that incumbents were demanding prices for access which were far higher than could be justified.

A spokesman for telecoms commissioner, Erki Liikanen, said that the issues brought up in the letter would be covered in next week's report on the implementation of telecoms legislation.