The European Commission’s eighth report on telecommunications liberalisation in EU Member States was published in December 2002.

The report reviews major developments in the telecoms market across the EU and analyses trends in implementing current regulatory framework in different Member States.

The report is very positive about the UK’s performance and it compares favourably with reports from previous years. The UK compares well with other Member States on a range of criteria, most notably its high level of Internet penetration and its competitive market for the delivery of broadband services.

Oftel is commended for its strong regulatory and technical expertise, and for developing new forms of regulation, such as incentive regulation. Oftel's implementation of cost accounting and accounting separation is also identified as representing ‘best practice’ within the EU.

The Commission also highlights the UK’s very low interconnection charges for fixed-to-fixed lines, its good results in porting telephone numbers, and acknowledges that the UK is on track to implement the new EC Communications framework by July 2003 as required.

Where the Commission raises concerns, it recognises that Oftel has taken specific action to improve the UK's performance. In response to past criticism of the speed of Oftel’s decision-making when determining interconnection disputes, the Commission said that new, stricter internal rules had resulted in improved performance.

The report is based on information from representatives of operators, consumer and user groups, National Regulatory Authorities and Ministries, and takes into account the results of individual Member State public hearings.

The full Report and be found at

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/topics/telecoms/implementation/annual_report/8threport/index_en.htm.

For further information, contact Andrew McWhir (tel: 020 7634 5306 / e-mail: andrew.mcwhir@oftel.gov.uk).