Archive
International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.
OECD BROADBAND
BY KEITH NUTHALL
GOVERNMENTS should avoid forcing national telecommunications utilities to make broadband services available to rural and remote areas, but rather rely on boosting competition in the sector, an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report has claimed. Indeed, making such demands “would reduce competition and innovation.…
EU TELECOMS REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
TELECOMMUNICATIONS investment is being attracted to European countries with the least state involvement in dominant operators, according to a survey from the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA). It says that Britain, Denmark and Ireland are the most popular countries for telecoms investors, with Belgium, France, and Germany the least, (other countries surveyed were Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden).…
AUSTRIA PROCUREMENT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AUSTRIA has breached European Union (EU) public procurement rules by failing to provide a comprehensive review procedure allowing unsuccessful tenderers to challenge contracts awards by dominant utilities and public authorities.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ordered Vienna to reform public procurement laws for its Salzburg, Styria, Lower Austria and Carinthia regions to comply with directives 89/665/EEC and 92/13/EEC, (which covers procurement in the water, energy, and telecommunications sectors).…
NETWORK REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE HIGH price of utility services is restricting the number of European Union (EU) customers that switch between service providers, even when such choice is available, according to a new European Commission report on ‘fixed networks’ (also including gas, electricity and transport).…
SWEDEN STATE AID
BY KEITH NUTHALL
INDUSTRIAL energy consumers in Sweden must pay back some energy tax concessions granted by their government the European Commission has ruled, although it has been quite lenient on the beneficiaries. Brussels ruled exempting manufacturers was an illegal state aid, because it was not accompanied by commitments to improve environmental performance.…
MOBILE BROADBAND
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) governments should adopt a more liberal approach towards the granting of planning permissions for mobile phone masts and base stations, because of the need to boost mobile-broadband services, the European Commission has claimed. In a checklist of actions required by the EU telecommunications industry and governments, the Commission said: “Action is required to address regulatory barriers to their establishment.”…
GREECE WATER - ECJ
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE GREEK government has been censured by the European Court of Justice for not properly installing an urban waste water collecting system for the Thriasio Pedio area, near Athens. The court found in this way and by subjecting this water to mere secondary treatment before it is discharged into the neighbouring and environmentally sensitive Gulf of Elefsina, Greece has broken the 1991 urban waste-water treatment directive.…
GERMANY BROADBAND
BY KEITH NUTHALL
GERMANY’S Federal Cartel Office has been asked by the European Commission to examine a planned take over by the country’s dominant broadband cable operator KDG of smaller rival ish (CORRECT SPELLING AND CASE). As the owner of Deutsche Telekom’s former broadband cable network, KDG runs high-speed Internet services across Germany, except in the Länder of Hesse, Baden-Wurttemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia, where ish is the dominant broadband operator.…
MARITIME SECURITY
BY KEITH NUTHALL, in Paris
THE BRITISH and International chambers of commerce have called on governments worldwide to urgently process compliance certification applications from ports and shipping lines for the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS), as its July 1 implementation deadline looms.…
SADDAM EHCR
BY KEITH NUTHALL
LAWYERS acting for Saddam Hussein have failed to persuade the European Court of Human Rights to prevent the British government helping to hand him to the new Iraqi government, because it may decide to execute him. Despite the fact Mr Hussein’s regime oversaw many judicial executions, his legal team on Britain’s signing the European Convention on Human Rights – is committed to preserving “the right to life”.…