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Follow-Up zu Thread 99: insbesondere Beiträge #25 und #30 http://www.wallstreet-online.de/si/community/board/threadpag… UPDATE 2-Dutch cabinet OKs law opening cable to Net rivalry Reuters Company News - December 14, 2001 09:46 (Adds report from competition authority, paragraph 7) By Jana Sanchez AMSTERDAM, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The Dutch cabinet on Friday accepted a proposed law that could pave the way for regulators to force cable companies to open up their networks for rival Internet service providers to gain access to consumers. "The cabinet agreed with the proposal of our minister. The proposal says the competition authorities should analyse the Internet market and if they find that any company has substantial market power, they can then implement measures to create competition," a spokesman from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure told Reuters. A number of Dutch cable companies have agreed to accept ISP competition on their networks. But the Netherland`s largest cable company, United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC) , which owns the ISP Chello, has previously rejected any voluntary opening of the networks. The proposed law will go to Parliament next year, which is likely to approve the measure, sources told Reuters prior to the cabinet announcement. "The proposal will go back to Parliament, but since the Parliament has asked for competition, it is likely to be approved," the source said. The Dutch Parliament asked the cabinet to implement this measure more than a year ago, but ministers wanted to wait for the European Union to revise its regulatory framework for telecoms, which it did on Wednesday. Separately, the Dutch competition authority NMa and telecoms watchdog OPTA, both of which will lay out rules for opening the cable networks, issued a report on Friday that defined high-speed broadband Internet access and standard telephone and Internet access as two separate markets. CABLE RULES The Netherlands is one of the world`s most densely cabled countries, with more than 95 percent of consumers getting cable TV. UPC`s Chello is by far the most popular cable-based Internet service provider in the Netherlands partly because it operates over UPC`s network, which has about a 36 percent market share. UPC was not immediately available for comment. Casema, a network owned by France Telecom and operating in the Hague, said it planned to allow other ISPs to compete with its own Wanadoo brand next year. "We think it`s better to focus on our core business and let others take the risk for digital services," Casema spokesman Dirk Spaans told Reuters. The European Parliament endorsed new telecoms laws on Wednesday that simplify and harmonise rules on communications and eliminate distinctions between cable and telecoms networks. Telecoms networks have been gradually opened to competition. Once the new EU rules receive the expected approval by the Council of Ministers, Dutch competition authorities will have the authority to force open networks if they determine that any company is a substantial market power. UPC, 53 percent owned by UnitedGlobalCom , is Europe`s largest cable operator in terms of customers with seven million. U.S.-based Liberty Media owns 76 percent of United, giving it a 40 percent indirect stake in UPC. |
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| aus der Diskussion: | PRIMACOM THREAD 100 |
| Autor (Datum des Eintrages): | Krisenmanager (14.12.01 20:13:58) |
| Beitrag: | 18 von 192 (ID:5124409) |
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