EU backs down on universal mobile and broadband access

Telecoms operators will not be obliged to provide universal access to services across Europe

The European Commission will not force operators to provide universal access to services across the continent, Information Society and Media commissioner Viviane Redding has said.

The commission based its finding on a review of the Universal Service Directive, a regulation which stipulates that EU citizens must have access to communications services.

It requires telecoms operators to provide access to public phone boxes, for instance, even though they are largely unprofitable and have been outdated by the rise of mobile phones.

Mobile users already have widespread and affordable access, the report claimed. Broadband internet access technology, meanwhile, is lacking the maturity that would allow it to be used by a "majority of consumers", which makes it fall outside the directive's scope.

The conclusion is a relief for service providers, as a different finding would have forced them to extent their services to geographies that offer few revenue opportunities.

The Commission also opened the door to reform by raising questions about the current interpretation.

It might, for instance, be reinterpreted as a requirement to provide access to a nondescript communications infrastructure rather than telephone service.

The requirement to provide and operate payphones could come under review, and one suggestion is to look at funding the services through taxation.