Examination of Witness (Questions 176-179)
Mr Levi Nietvelt
27 FEBRUARY 2007
Q175 Chairman:
Thank you for coming. You have, sitting around the table, five
members of the House of Lords' Select Committee on the Internal
Market. We are in the middle of an inquiry into mobile phone roaming
charges. We have received your written evidence, for which we
thank you very much. This morning we have been with the Commissioner
and we will be meeting later with Mr Frank Krüger of the
Telecom Working Group of the Germany Presidency of the Council.
With your agreement, may we put one or two questions, to seek
your advice and help?
Mr Nietvelt: Yes.
Q176 Lord Mitchell: Could I kick
off, please? I wanted to know whether you think that the Commission
was justified in taking legislative action in this area. Do you
think their proposals are proportionate?
Mr Nietvelt: First of all, thank you for asking
for our input. We do think that it was time for the Commission
to put out legislation. In 2003, BEUC had already questioned its
members on telecoms in general and roaming in particular. It turned
out that consumers did not know what they were paying; it turned
out that prices throughout Europe were very comparable. So we
think it is time that the Commission took action. Also, because
of the fact that roaming is between two countries and the national
regulators have no authority to interfere, as such it was for
the Commission to legislate.
Q177 Chairman: We have a timetable which
means that ministers hope that, by the June Telecoms Council,
they will have reached agreement, with co-decision by the Parliament
and by the Council to proceed with implementation. Do you think
that timetable is sufficient? Too tight? There is still a lot
of discussion and concern. Perhaps it is at the margin, but in
some cases it goes right to the root of whether you should have
regulation at all.
Mr Nietvelt: My feeling is that there is general
agreement that legislation is needed, especially at the wholesale
level. Because you have problems of access; you have the difference
between the big operators and the small ones. So I think that
there is agreement there. At the retail level, at the beginning
there were big discussions as to whether or not it was needed,
but there is now the proposal in the Council to have retail legislation
and caps, and also in the European Parliament. The IMCO Committee
and ITRE are co-deciding. Both IMCO and ITRE are in favour of
this legislation. It is true that the timetable is tight. It should
be done in First Reading. However, there is a tremendous political
will to put this legislation through and, as such, we think that
the chances are there to have this legislation. It is true that
it is very tight; but our feeling is that all parties agree that,
if possible, they should be able to have legislation before the
summer.
Q178 Baroness Eccles of Moulton:
You have said that the political will is very strong for this
legislation to go through as quickly as possible.
Mr Nietvelt: Yes.
Q179 Baroness Eccles of Moulton:
Do you think that the political will is partly driven by the fact
that this is a subject which affects the vast majority of the
electorate in every country; it is a proposal that is understood
by virtually everybody, and therefore it has a much higher political
profile than many other matters that go through the EU process—which
are perhaps not quite so immediate and well understood by the
electorate itself?
Mr Nietvelt: What you say is absolutely right.
It is something that goes directly to people's wallets. They feel
it. Every month there is a bill. On the other hand, it is an issue
which has been on the Commission's table for a very long time
already. The previous Commissioner, Commissioner Mario Monti,
had already started an investigation on co-operative price back
in 1999. In that sense, it has been there for a very long time.
Of course, now that the legislation is out, it is picked up by
the press and it is true that there is great interest. However,
it is not that the Commission has all of a sudden thought, "Let's
polish up our image and let's try to make something fancy";
it is something that has been there for a very long time. As such,
the operators are saying that they are reducing prices right now.
It is something you see only when the legislation was tabled.
In our view, they have understood that it is probably going to
be there and they have reacted; but they have not adapted their
prices, as such. In that sense, the legislation is still very
much needed.
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