EU steps up single telecoms market plan

European regulators are planning to aggressively accelerate plans to create a single regional telecoms market to help push through the far-reaching reforms before the end of European Parliament.

A blueprint for the hard-hit European telecoms industry will now be published in June, months ahead of an original deadline in the autumn, with hopes that regulations can be implemented before the end of the year. Setting up a single European telecoms market has become the top priority for Neelie Kroes, Europe’s digital commissioner, and Brussels is keen to accelerate the process to get the plan approved before the European Parliament elections in 2014. The move could wrong-foot some in the industry who had been preparing their proposals, and in some cases opposition, for the original deadline in October.