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To: Caxton Rhodes who wrote (3639)	11/26/1999 2:29:00 AM
From: Caxton Rhodes	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13582

GSM Association Complains Of European Regulations By Emily Bourne 24 November 1999 The GSM Association has written to the European Union telecoms commissioner complaining that the new 1999 Telecommunications Review stifles competition by applying fixed line regulations to mobile companies. The letter sent out today to Erkki Liikanen complains that, in continuing to apply cost orientation obligations, the Commission is failing to reward innovation in the industry. "We do think that the Commission has the same kind of objectives we have," said Rutger van Basten Batenburg of Libertel, who is the head of GSM Europe. "We think we must make them aware of the consequences." He said that the review had followed the bulk of the conclusions drawn by the GSM Association, and outlined by them in a seminar in Brussels in February, but the review "doesn't draw the conclusions in the proper way". There is a meeting of the Council of Telecoms ministers scheduled for the end of the month, which the association hopes to influence in its favour. Van Basten Batenburg said: "We are on the edge of investing in 3G networks. We must create cash flow to invest in these new developments. The 1999 Review fails to reward investment." He added that once wireless operators reached a 20% market share, they were forced to compete on cost oriented prices and therefore had no revenue to invest any more. He said that mobile was a different market to fixed line services. "We are changing from network operators to value added service providers," he said. According to the review, changes favoured by the Commission will come into place in 2003. "We can't wait three years," van Basten Batenburg said. "The success of UMTS will be dependent on the way the Commission handles this."