Wednesday, October 6, 2004, the Vice-President of the National regulatory Authority for Communications of Romania, Alexandrina Hirtan, moderated the round table “Unbundling the Local Loop – the Express way to Broadband Access and Its Speed Limits” held during the “International Broadband Communications Conference”.
In the opening session, the Vice-Chairman of the European Group of Regulators and the President of the Regulatory Authority of Denmark, Mr. Jørgen Abild Andersen, presented the Danish market, where the unbundled access to the local loop was regulated ever since 1998 and the current penetration rate of broadband access is the highest in the European Union – 18,5% of the households. As well, the official emphasized that 95% of the Danish households may benefit from high speed Internet connection and this rate is estimated to reach 98% by the end of the year.
The Chief of the Policy Development Department of the U.S. Federal Communications Committee, Dr. Robert Pepper, emphasized that 60% of the market in the U.S. is held by cable providers, while the DSL segment represents only 40%. Robert Pepper highlighted that many rural communities (Iowa, for example) use WIFI connections, which is an example of effective implementation of the new broadband access technologies in isolated communities, with low demographic density.
The Romanian representative, Radu Tudorache, Director of the Economic Market Regulation Division of ANRC declared that, in Romania, the average monthly expenditure of a company using a dial-up connection amounted to USD19, while the expenditure for a broadband connection amounted to USD86, according to the market studies conducted by ANRC in February, 2004. Regarding the interest of the end users in Romania in using a dedicated connection, 37% of the households and 41% of the companies using dial-up connections consider switching to broadband connections in the next 12 months.
As well, the Vicepresident of the National Regulatory Authority for Communications, Alexandrina Hirtan, remarked that the national strategies on broadband communications consider the market as playing a key role in the development of broadband services, concerning both infrastructure and content, while public policies play a secondary role in ensuring the effective evolution of the market. The state should focus equally on stimulating both the demand and the offer. Regarding the offer, the state should provide for creating a competitive environment in the market, with a view to stimulating the development of broadband communications. As regards infrastructure, the regulations on the terms of access to the local loop are essential for ensuring that end users benefit from a fair price/performance balance as well as from a wide range of services.
During the sessions of the rountable, the representatives of the General Division for Information Society of the European Commission, Richard Harris, Principal Administrator for South-East Europe, and Olivier Pascal, Deputy Head of Unit, IS Regional Aspects, as well as members of the regulatory authorities of Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Moldova, Norway and the U.S.A. pinpointed the relevant aspects of these countries’ experience in implementing and developing the unbundled access to the local loop.
“International Broadband Communications Conference”, held between October 5-7, 2004, is an event organised under the patronage of the Committee for Information Technologies and Communications of the Chamber of Deputies, with the support of the National Regulatory Authority for Communications.