By Bate Felix
BRUSSELS, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The European Union secured
agreement on Thursday on a telecoms bill to boost consumer
rights, competition and fuel investment in the 300-billion-euro
($442.3 billion) a year sector.
Agreement had been held up by the resistance of European
lawmakers to EU member states such as France, the UK and the
Netherlands wanting to be able to cut off Internet access to
users suspected of illegally downloading files.
France already has a "three strikes and out" law to restrict
subscribers suspected of breaches.
In the end it was agreed that Internet users suspected of
activities such as downloading copyrighted material or child
pornography, cannot have their Internet access cut off without a
prior fair hearing.
"It has been a long hard battle but at least all sides have
acknowledged that fundamental rights of users need to be
guaranteed in the digital world," Monique Goyens, director
general of BEUC, the European consumers' organisation, said.
The deal now goes to the European Parliament and the Council
of EU telecoms ministers for approval.
MORE COMPETITION
The reform will also create a pan-EU supervisory agency
called the Body of European Regulators for Electronic
Communications (BEREC) to improve how the 27-nation bloc's
telecoms rules are applied so that no operator can be shielded
from competition.
The reforms could see dominant telecoms operators such as
Germany's Deutsche Telekom, Telenor , TeliaSonera and BT facing more
competition.
National regulators will, however, have to ensure operators
receive a fair return for their investments into next generation
access (NGA) networks such as optical fibre and wireless
technologies.
"It is a real opportunity in terms of economic take-off
because if you look at the turnover, you are looking at over 300
billion euros in the sector," Catherine Trautmann, a French
socialist deputy who helped steer part of the reform through the
European Parliament, told the news conference.
"For businesses in the sector, there will be the possibility
for further growth and investments without having to recourse to
public contributions," she said.
The reforms also beef up consumers' contractual rights and
give national regulators power to force operators to offer
minimum levels for services such as voice and video made using
the Internet.
(Reporting by Bate Felix; editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
($1=.6782 Euro) Keywords: EU TELECOMS/
(Reuters Messaging: bate.felix.reuters.com@reuters.net; Email: bate.felix@thomsonreuters.com; +32 2 287 6812)
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