The European Commission,
DG Information Society and Media has launched a public consultation on future universal service principles in the area of electronic communications networks and services. … This consultation is part of the European Commission’s follow-up to its Declaration on universal service to the European Parliament in the context of the negotiation of the ‘Telecom Package’ in 2009 and the second periodic review of the scope of universal service in 2008 (COM(2008) 572).
The aim is to facilitate an open-ended and wide ranging public debate relating to the place of universal service provision in electronic communications in a competitive and rapidly-evolving digital environment. The consultation is facilitated by a questionnaire which sets out the key areas for discussion.
For your contributions:
What is a Universal Service?
Universal service is an economic, legal and business term used mostly in regulated industries, referring to the practice of providing a baseline level of services to every resident of a country.
Sköne Oke 
Moreover, technological advances provide new and cheaper means of reaching users in
remote and less populated areas. In particular, compared to conventional fixed networks,
wireless technologies allow more flexible and effective delivery of broadband in such areas,
with new subscribers being connected to wireless networks at very low marginal cost.
The release of spectrum resulting from the switch-off of analogue TV services (the digital
dividend) opens the significant prospect of widespread roll-out of mobile and other wireless
broadband services, which can in particular benefit remote or inaccessible areas of the Union
not covered by legacy copper networks, as well as some of the newer Member States where
fixed penetration has been historically low9. In this context, coverage requirements in licences
can constitute an instrument for ensuring geographical inclusion.
Although wireless technology still typically provides connection at lower speeds than wired
broadband solutions (for example, 1.5 Mbp/s and upwards in the case of 3.5 generation
mobile), fourth generation (4G) mobile networks to be deployed in the coming years will
enable significantly higher data rates.
A further issue is that the regulatory environment in the EU has become more complex with
enlargement in 2004 and 2007. The differences between 27 Member States regarding market
developments, affordability and the digital divide are now much wider than in the ‘EU15’, for
which the current universal service rules where designed. This is in particular true for fixed
broadband penetration rates, which vary from around 12% in Bulgaria and Romania to over
37% in the Netherlands and Denmark, while the EU average is around 24%10.
Question 3: Broadband for all is a widely-stated policy objective at national and European
level. What role if any should universal service play in meeting this objective?
Question 4: What impacts could an extension of the role of universal service to advance
broadband development have in relation to other EU and national policies and measures to
achieve full broadband coverage in the EU? What other impacts would be likely to arise
regarding competition, the single market, competitiveness, investment, innovation,
employment and the environment?
Question 5: If universal service obligations should prove necessary to achieve the policy
objective of broadband for all, at what level (EU or national) should such obligations be
defined, taking into account the different levels of market development across the current
Union of 27 Member States?
Question 6: If a common harmonised universal service needs to be defined at EU level,
should a mechanism be put in place to balance the need for national flexibility and a coherent
and coordinated approach in the EU?
[…] EU Consultation on universal service principles in e-communications « Sköne Oke […]