The European Commission’s 13th Report on the Implementation of the Telecommunications Regulatory Package -2007 highlighted aspects of market development and the importance of telecoms sector for a healthy growth of the European economy.

In 2007, services grew cheaper as they grew in broadband and speed, the report shows, together with significant investments that are said to have exceeded $50 billion. Last year saw the fifth consecutive growth in investment and a continuous growth in penetration as well.

The telecoms sector, which is worth approximately € 300 billion, outran countries like China and Japan in terms of investment, but that doesn’t make it flawless, as Viviane Reding, the EU’s Telecoms Commissioner highlighted:

“Competition is limited for access to fixed network … In addition, though telecoms technologies know no borders, only 30 percent of major operators’ EU business is outside their home market. This shows that we still lack an attractive single market for businesses and services of European dimensions … Only by opening up the single market for business will Europe become competitive.”

At the end of 2007, four countries were world leaders in broadband deployment, with penetration rates over 30%: Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden. In addition to them, four more countries also have broadband penetration rates higher than the United States: United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg and France.

There are still a number of things the European Union country members need to work on for a Single Telecoms market. The report shows that incumbent operators hold more than 46 percent of broadband lines and in seven member countries control more than 60 percent of broadband connections. Number portability is still inconsistent throughout the European Union.

At the same time, the Mobile Termination Rates (MTR) vary a lot within the member countries, which can create confusion. For example, the report used the cases of Cyprus and Estonia. In the first of them, MTR is 1.9 Euro cent/min, while in the other one MTR is 22.4.