Telecoms Investors Attracted To Well-Regulated Countries, Survey Reveals

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

27 May 2004

A report published on Tuesday by the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) has revealed that despite the fact that all EU member states are supposed to be in the process of implementing a harmonised EU regulatory framework for their telecommunications sectors, there is in fact a great deal of disparity between the regulatory regimes in European countries.

The survey, which looked at the performance of 10 of the 'old' EU states, namely Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden, went on to suggest that potential telecoms investors tend to gravitate towards countries which have effective regulations in place, and in which the dominant provider is not state-controlled.

Speaking with regard to the results of the study, which was conducted for the Association by consultant SPC Network, managing director of ECTA, Roger Wilson observed that:

"Member States that want to attract the most investment in order for their consumers and businesses to benefit from competition and innovation need to ensure that their regulatory regimes meet EU best practice. A survey of our members has shown that they pay keen attention to comparative regulatory effectiveness when selecting in which countries they prefer to invest."

The ECTA survey results revealed that the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark, whose incumbent telecoms operators are not state-controlled, topped the bill in terms of attracting investment to the telecommunications sector.

France, Belgium and Germany, meanwhile, attracted the least interest from telecoms investors, seemingly in part due to the fact that the state controls the dominant telecoms firm in each country.

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