Investigation into provision and pricing of leased line tariffs

The European Commission has started a broad investigation regarding the conditions of provision and pricing of leased lines. The inquiry involves requesting information from incumbent fixed network operators, mobile network operators, a number of newly-authorised fixed telecommunications network operators, as well as large business users and Member State authorities. Two other inquiries will follow, namely regarding mobile roaming services and the provision of access to and use of the residential local loop. This inquiry comes in the wake of a survey completed by the International Telecommunications Users Association and of a series of informal complaints of alleged discriminatory pricing and treatment, delays of delivery or quality of service. The Commission aims at establishing whether current commercial practices and prices infringe EC competition rules. This is only the third time ever that the Commission has launched a sectoral inquiry (under Article 12 of Regulation 17/62). The Commission has prepared extensive formal requests for information as well as questionnaires to national competition authorities, telecommunications regulators and incumbent telecommunications operators across the EU, to new entrants that provide or purchase leased lines services, as well as to a number of users of leased lines. All these parties have six weeks from receipt of the information requests to reply. Depending on whether it finds practices or prices that constitute infringements of the EC competition rules, the Commission will then decide whether to open formal proceedings. (IP/99/786)