European business users press for more regulatory attention
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Posted Tue 2 February 2010 @ 2:48 a.m. by Ernie Newman
INTUG, the International Telecommunications Users Group of which TUANZ is an active member, has for some time been pressing the European Commission to recognise the fundamentally different character of business user markets from consumer markets.
The difference in needs is especially apparent in the EU because of the pan-European character of commerce, and the strong presence of head offices of multi national corporations who desire to purchase their telecommunications on a European-wide or global basis - an outcome which is denied because of the absence of a Europe-wide regulatory approach.
The European Regulators' Group has at last recognised this pressure by holding a special review of business services. Last Friday INTUG made submissions to a public hearing on that topic. INTUG's short (4 page) paper is attached.
Not all of this is directtly translatable to the New Zealand environment, because we don't have a large number of multi nationals headquartered here. Nonetheless it is interesting to see increasing awareness of the desire for more global consistency in the way business markets are regulated. Issues such as international mobile roaming charges - a matter of major concern to TUANZ members - can only be dealt with by a global approach to regulation. The same may apply over time with international connectivity.
Categories: Broadband | Fixed line carriers | ISPs | Regulatory | Wireless carriers