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| We all have our Kroes to bear… |
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| Tuesday, 25 September 2007 | |
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Internal industrial policy dinosaurs subvert the EC’s positive principles on telecom competition.
It’s not unlike a wildlife documentary. Preening fowl stand tall in front of each other, attempting to scare the weaker opponent into submission. In this latest European face-off the weaker opponent may be Viviane Reding, our champion and the current ICT Commissioner. The feather-erect bullies are Günter Verheugen, the Industry Commissioner, and Neelie Kroes, the Competition Commissioner. We used to like Neelie. For older readers we’ll revive their old nomenclatures and EC directorates: Reding (DG-XIII); Verheugen (DG-III); and Kroes (DG-IV). It was ever thus. Verheugen, a German, is backing closed network developments in the realm of high-speed infrastructure. Deutsche Telekom, the dominant German carrier, is backing closed network developments in the realm of high-speed infrastructure. No conflict of interest there, I suppose. Kroes is an unusual example of a Dutch citizen deferring to a German. Were it not that she is utterly beyond reproach you would start to wonder: who unscrewed her brain? Back in 2004 we welcomed her appointment (click here). Viviane Reding, in distinct contrast, has long been swatting away Europe’s network monopolies, like unwanted midges at a barbecue in her native Luxembourg. It’s worth noting that if you swat a midge away from a barbecue in Luxembourg, its damaged and dying carcass is likely to end up in Belgium, Germany or France. But not in Holland, Neelie! Reding’s two major initiatives just lately are the functional separation of wholesale and retail operations in Europe’s incumbent telcos and a cynical attitude towards closed ultra-speed and ultra-protected all-fibre broadband networks like that already put in place by Deutsche Telekom. She is also reported to be pushing for a pan-European ICT regulator, but this ‘proposal’ could well be a smear on the part of her opponents. Viviane’s problem will be that plenty of incumbent operators, mobile carriers and protective governments will be lining up to see her off and these arguments may constitute the excuse they are waiting for. And two hefty fellow commissioners are now in the nasty camp, too. We are here and on your side, Viv. Jim Chalmers |
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