EU Sets Swift Telecom Revamp

The European Union's telecoms chief set out an ambitious time scale for an overhaul of the bloc's telecom rules, saying a package of initiatives to foster a single market for the industry across Europe would be ready by next Easter but that they won't include plans for a single European regulator.

"The speed is badly needed because we are in a crisis," EU Commissioner for Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes said. But it also means that rather than pursuing the "dream" of a single telecoms regulator for all 27 EU countries, "we should be pragmatic...just put in the basket what you really need." Kroes said her full proposals would be detailed in July or August, before being put to EU leaders at their October summit, with the aim of getting the package approved by the European Parliament before it breaks for elections in May 2014. In order to get her reforms implemented as soon as possible, she won't pursue a single regulator. Instead she will suggest that telecoms operators, which currently have to work with the regulator in each country where they are present, pick a "home" regulator and just deal with them. Previous hopes of a single regulator across Europe have been rebuffed by member states, which don't want to cede control to Brussels.