EC wants more regulation on Deutsche Telekom's fixed network

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The lack of competition in the German end-user market for access to the public telephone network requires more effective regulatory obligations, says the European Commission in its response to the German telecom regulator Bundesnetzagentur (BNA). The commission calls for an efficient price control mechanism in order to protect consumers against the risk of excessive prices being charged by the dominant operator Deutsche Telekom. The Commission endorsed the regulatory measures proposed by BNetzA, but at the same time invited the national regulator to increase the effectiveness of the proposed remedies. In line with the EU telecom rules, BNetzA is reminded that carrier (pre-)selection services which allow the end-user to select a carrier of its choice for all, certain or individual calls, must be provided at a price that is based on actual costs and that direct charges to subscribers must not act as a disincentive for the use of such facilities.
In order to enhance competition and consumer protection against excessive pricing by Deutsche Telekom, the EC invites the German regulator to consider imposing a more efficient price control mechanism. A number of other national regulators who found the retail access markets not competitive have already remedied the market failure through ex ante price regulation (regulators in Austria, Ireland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Netherlands, Hungary, Malta and Spain). Finally, in order to implement carrier (pre-)selection cost orientation effectively and to make price control effective, the regulator is also invited to impose accounting separation requirements on Deutsche Telekom.