Speaking at European Institute roundtable in Washington Thurs., R...

Council, European Union member states balked at proposals, expressing displeasure over changes to how market power is defined and possibility that EC could require members to amend national regulatory measures, Verrue said in lunch speech. National regulators at council meeting also disagreed with extent to which proposal would place spectrum decisions within scope of proceeding on transparent regulations, he said. “The Commission does not agree with these changes,” Verrue said. Directive is now headed to European Parliament for 2nd reading, where decision will be made over whether to reinstate some or all of original concepts put forward by EC, he said. “At this stage, I am making no predictions about what the final outcome will be,” he said. “The package represents a balance between flexibility and harmonization. The Commission will be seeking to maintain this balance in the final legislative package.” During question and answer session, Verrue was asked about telecom issues he expects to emerge in upcoming dialogue between U.S. and EU. “The time would be right in comparing the U.S. experience in local loop unbundling with what we are trying to do,” Verrue said. In next several days, EC will be posting report on its Web site outlining experience in EU to date with local loop unbundling initiatives. In just past 6 months, progress has been seen, Verrue noted. “A lot is being undertaken but at the same time it’s not enough,” he said. Other telecom issues that may come up in dialogue with U.S. are license specifications, he said. Verrue declined to comment on recent FCC approval of pending VoiceStream-Deutsche Telekom merger, saying only: “I'm happy to be at the end of it.” Panel discussion earlier in day centered around international experiences with deploying 3rd generation wireless systems. Ruprecht Niepold, head of EC’s mobile and satellite communications unit, said one policy alternative for addressing challenges of building out 3G networks might be network sharing, which he said ranges conceptually from site sharing to deeper cooperation among wireless players. In Netherlands, five 3G license-holders are talking to each other about setting up possible model for infrastructure sharing, he said. In part, this model would entail independent company deploying 3G infrastructure network, which all operators would have access to, he said. Such system would be transition until fuller deployment of 3G services, he said. Under this type of model, “regulators will have to be vigilant on how and under what terms infrastructure could be shared,” said Michael Kennedy, corporate vp-dir. of Motorola’s global govt. relations office.