We expect our Heads of State and Government to give their full support to eEurope at the European Summit in Lisbon this month. Let me highlight some of the major issues which eEurope will tackle. First , we want to further increase competition in the telecommunications market. Telecommunications liberalisation is an EU success story. But this is not enough.
Prices have to come down further.
And we also need a fixed rate for internet access. At present, Europeans still pay by the minute. AOL members in the UK use it on average 12 minutes per day. The way to get more competition is to liberalise the last mile, or the local loop, which is still dominated by incumbents. This is happening in Europe.