§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what evaluation his Department has undertaken of the effect of the EU Telecommunications Regulation concerning unbundling of the local loop on the UK telecommunications industry. [135666]
§ Ms HewittA Regulatory Impact Assessment on the costs and benefits of the draft Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on unbundled access to the local loop is currently being prepared.
Local Loop Unbundling has already been mandated in the UK. Oftel decided in November 1999 that BT should allow operators to access its local access lines, and a condition in BT's licence requiring it to provide unbundled local loops was put in place in April 2000 and brought into force on 8 August 2000—four months ahead of the deadline in the Regulation. BT started the process of accepting orders for co-location in its exchanges in September and the first loops should be available early in 2001. This progress means the UK is well placed in Europe in the introduction of local loop unbundling, which will promote competition in the provision of broadband and other communications services to consumers and small businesses.
The Regulation also requires the introduction of shared access, where the incumbent operator continues to provide telephony while an alternative operator provides a broadband service over the same line. While shared access is not yet in place in the UK (nor is it widely available elsewhere in Europe), Oftel has already proposed its introduction in a consultation document "Access to bandwidth: Shared access to the local loop" published in October 2000. Oftel's proposal is in line with the Regulation.
The overall effect of the Regulation in the UK will thus be to underpin the existing regime, which will bring significant benefits to the telecommunications industry and consumers as a whole. The Regulation will also enable UK industry to reap similar benefits elsewhere in Europe by creating a harmonised framework for local loop unbundling.
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§ Mr. ChopeTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Warwick and Leamington (Mr. Plaskitt) of 24 October 2000,Official Report, columns 106–07W, concerning the telecommunications council, what the Government's policy was towards the Commission's postal services proposal; and if he will make a statement. [135744]
§ Ms HewittFor the UK, I said that we strongly supported further liberalisation of postal services in Europe compatible with the maintenance of the universal service. We recognised that this was an increasingly global market and that postal services within the EU needed greater commercial freedom if they were to become global players. Liberalisation should proceed in a way consistent with our social objectives so as to allow the full benefits of competition to be achieved for all consumers. At the moment, and subject to the content of the package as a whole, our view was that a reduction of the reserved area to 150grams was achievable without putting the universal service at risk. We would need to consider the advice of the new UK postal regulator on whether a greater reduction could be achieved without putting at risk the universal service at a uniform tariff. However, we would play a constructive role in further discussions on the proposal reflecting the new regulator's advice.