The European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) has released its Regulatory Scorecard 2009. In this annual study on regulation in Europe, ECTA makes a comparison between the regulatory environment of the electronic communications sector in 22 countries (19 EU Member States - Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Slovenia, Spain, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Czech Republic and Sweden - in addition to Norway, Switzerland and Turkey) and their effectiveness in promoting the objectives of the European regulatory framework.
This year's study, referring to 2009 and produced with the cooperation of the national regulators and telecom companies, reveals that in more competitive markets, where non-discrimination is strongly enforced and competitors have access to infrastructure at fair prices , as in the Netherlands, Britain and Denmark, citizens and companies obtain better service at lower prices, resulting in wider use of broadband. In contrast, entrants into the market of the Czech Republic and Bulgaria encounter the most difficult market conditions, resulting in broadband penetration which is well below the European average.
As in the previous year, the overall ranking is headed by the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, France and Ireland, which, except for the latter, which has a weaker result in the market section, continue to report good performance in all sections of the study. The second group of countries, which while strong have performances with room for improvement in specific areas, includes Finland, Italy, Portugal (9th place out of a total of 22 countries), Spain, Belgium and Sweden. The third group includes Austria, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Poland and Slovenia, with a more variable performance. And the final group of countries with poor performances in most of the sections covered by the study consists of Turkey, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
The report also includes a set of recommendations made by ECTA to the Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council, Governments and National Regulatory Authorities.
Consult:
- Regulatory Scorecard 2009 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1030487
Further information:
- Regulatory Scorecard 2009 http://www.ectaportal.com/en/REPORTS/Regulatory-Scorecards/Regulatory-Scorecard-2009/
Related information on ANACOM's website:
- Regulatory Scorecard 2008 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=829658
