European Community telecommunications ministers last week adopted legislation designed to open up the supply of leased lines within the community. The directive, the first of its kind to be passed under the Open Network Provision framework, aims to ensure that private operators can lease circuits from public telecommunications operators on an open and non-discriminatory basis. The directive must be implemented within one year after the Community member states are notified of its adoption. Good news too for other areas of the telecommunications industry: the Telecommunications Council has passed a recommendation that member states guarantee that their designated telecommunications bodies offer ISDNs with a minimum number of services and harmonised access conditions. It also passed a similar harmonising recommendation covering the provision of packet-switched networks. The leased line directive should prove particularly useful to a number of service providers such as cellular operators that rely on private circuits for building their infrastructure. Susan Ablett, lead author of Cambridge-based Analysis Ltd’s recent report on Open Network Provision, points out that many member states have implemented many of the provision already, but nonetheless, hails the agreement as a significant achievement for the Community. However she adds that, the thing worth noting is the time that it has taken to get these recommendations – the Commission has to do something about speeding up progress if they are to avoid falling behind the pace of technology. Reuter also reports that the ministers adopted a resolution calling on the European Commission, member states, standards bodies and users to co-operate in building a pan-European ISDN.
