A4-0389/96

Resolution on the communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on universal service for telecommunications in the perspective of a fully liberalized environment - an essential element of the information society (COM(96)0073 - C4-0205/96)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the communication from the Commission (COM(96)0073 - C4- 0205/96),

- having regard to its resolutions of 20 April 1993 on the Commission communication on the situation in telecommunications services ((OJ C 150, 31.5.1993, p. 37.)), and 7 April ((OJ C 109, 1.5.1995, p. 310.)) and 19 May 1995 ((OJ C 151, 19.6.1995, p. 479.)) on the Green Paper on the liberalization of telecommunications infrastructure and cable television networks,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy and the opinions of the Committee on Social Affairs and Employment, the Committee on Research, Technological Development and Energy, the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection, the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media and the Committee on Legal Affairs and Citizens' Rights (A4-0389/96),

A. whereas the possibility of universal access to essential services at an affordable price and on satisfactory terms concerning quality, having regard to the state of commercially available technology, is an express condition for its support for the current process of liberalization of the telecommunications sector,

B. whereas the fundamental features of universal service cannot be bound up mechanistically with opening up to competition, since the latter alone cannot guarantee service universality and whereas, although free market forces and competition may lead to a better distribution of resources, attract significant investment and offer better prices to users, these instruments sometimes have their limitations and may run the risk of excluding part of the population from their benefits and of weakening social and regional cohesion,

C. whereas access in the context of universal telecommunications service to networks and services commensurate with the state of current commercially available technologies is a vital condition for the development of an information society affording opportunities for all,

D. whereas the general obligations concerning the performance of activities in the telecommunications sector, and in particular those concerning data protection and personal privacy, environmental conservation and notification for callers, without charge, where a subscriber number has changed, are at all events applicable,

1. Is surprised that a start on defining universal service in the Commission communication has not been made until 1996, whereas the legislative measures to liberalize the sector have almost been completed;

2. Endorses the Commission's concern, however, to ensure coherence between national approaches concerning universal service in order to prevent the creation of new barriers in the form of different requirements in this connection;

3. Stresses the importance of guaranteeing that - as a consequence of the fully liberalized market - there is no deterioration of the service offered within the framework of universal service; the liberalization of telecommunications must offer real 'added value¨ to all citizens of the Union;

4. Welcomes all moves towards recognition of the special role of public services and favours the inclusion in the EC Treaty of an article concerning public services;

5. Takes note of the fact that, in its proposal for a Directive to replace Directive 95/62/EC ((OJ L 321, 30.12.1995, p. 6.)) on voice telephony, the Commission stipulates clearly the basic services which constitute universal service obligations and the defined quality levels required for the provision of universal service, the cost of which it should be possible to share among the operators on the market stipulated by Community legislation, which is desirable for reasons of legal certainty and investor confidence, and acknowledges that the list of services and quality levels currently corresponds largely to a minimum level which is satisfactory overall, and which will improve in the future; is pleased to observe that that proposal contains precise references to quality criteria and a guarantee of affordable tariffs, but believes that the definition of the affordable nature of tariffs, having regard to the differing national situations, ought to come within the Community's remit and not be a matter for arbitrary assessment by the Member States;

6. Calls on the Commission and Council to seek maximum consistency, in legal terms, between all the provisions which in any way govern the definition of a universal service, the calculation of its cost and its funding and, in particular, stresses the need to ensure complete compatibility between the provisions of the future proposal for a directive which is to replace Directive 95/62/EC on voice telephony and the future directive on interconnection in telecommunications with regard to ensuring universal service;

7. Is firmly of the belief that, to ensure that Europe successfully makes the transition to the information society, it is in the interests of both citizens and operators that the definition of universal service at European level should be as broad as possible and avoid having recourse to a disparate range of national options, since the European Union has the appropriate geographic dimension to make the collective choice to make technological progress serve democracy and cohesion;

8. Believes therefore that the European Union must realize that the introduction of new advanced services in schools, libraries, public communications centres and all other public institutions is an important aspect of the emerging information society, and that a "public-access strategy¨ should be introduced; asks the Commission therefore to prepare a document on a coherent strategy for universal access;

9. Takes the view, therefore, that the list proposed by the Commission must be seen as a minimum, but at present real, service threshold for the Community territory as a whole, but not as a valid objective for each of the Member States in so far as the level of users' expectations and of development of available services and market practices warrants the availability of diversified services, according to Member States, and the Member States must remain free, in law and in practice, to a certain extent to require operators active on their territory to meet additional obligations; if additional obligations are imposed, this must have no implications for costing of universal service provision as laid down at EU level; therefore believes that market players should not have to help to pay for additional obligations unless this can be reasonably expected of them; stresses that such additional obligations must under no circumstances impede the development of effective competition or provide an opportunity to protect dominant market players;

10. Stresses that the costing of universal service provision is vital for the development of the telecoms market, and therefore calls on the Commission to develop models for its costing and to incorporate such models into European legislation;

11. Takes the view in particular that taking account of the least favoured users and geographical areas through preferential tariffs, the availability of public access to networks and services on the basis of a sufficient density of public booths, bearing in mind demographic and social conditions, is an integral component of the services which the Member States must be able to incorporate into their arrangements to provide universal service;

12. Considers that the annual report, to be drawn up by the Commission from 1 January 1998 onwards, providing an overview of the scope, level, quality and affordability of services, should also report on regional and country- specific problems and hindrances in respect of the development and introduction of universal service (e.g. cross-border activities), so that development at Union level can be seen to be coherent. Furthermore, it should provide an overview of the international position and debate on universal service, and it should contain a list of national best-practice models in this area;

13. Considers it necessary that an updating model be developed for periodic review of the list of universal service provision in the light of the development of technology and the market, so that the list can be added to within a reasonable period, in particular for ISDN or other types of high- throughput link and certain forms of mobile telephony, and considers that a timetable should be set now for this;

14. Takes the view that basic services must include a guarantee that local calls of conventional duration can be made at an affordable price;

15. Points out that call forwarding and notification of subscribers' number changes, whether or not they are numbered among basic services, are services which must be provided with due regard for the provisions on the protection of personal data;

16. Urges that universal service operators take into account the multicultural and multilingual nature of the Member States of the Union;

17. Believes that there is a risk of the scope of universal service being limited to solely the minimum list referred to above, should the additional services not be fundable as part of universal service by the mechanism provided for that purpose;

18. Takes the view that that risk is much more real than that of distortions of competition in the internal market arising from national requirements corresponding to additional services, as referred to by the Commission, which, moreover, are punishable by the Commission without the need, a priori, for specific provisions;

19. Takes the view that such distortions, were they to emerge, would penalize in the first instance firms in the Member State in question to the advantage of competitors offering their services from other Member States, which comes within the remit of the Member State in question and is not in breach of the Treaty, and in particular Article 6 thereof, according to consistent rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Communities;

20. Stresses that carriers and network service providers, including providers of mobile telephone services, should participate in the financing of universel service, so that the number of contributors is not restricted to providers of voice telephony or public-network interconnected services; calls on the Commission to bring forward a study before the end of 1997 to determine whether and to what extent other beneficiaries of the liberalisation process, including new service providers, could contribute to the financing of universal service;

21. Urges the Commission to submit without delay a proposal for a Directive on the funding of the universal service, and refers to its abovementioned resolution of 19 May 1995 calling for the establishment of universal service funds to 'finance, on the basis of real costs, the expenditure on provision of universal service, these funds being contributed to by all operators of infrastructure and services in proportion to their respective market share and the gross profitability of their revenues';

22. Notes that in a situation characterized by constantly falling technological costs and the attraction of the industry for investors, the financial impact of the universal service may appear limited in the light of the foreseeable turnover figures for the telecommunications sector, but that in some countries, because of the population distribution, together with a high level of telephone ownership, the real impact may be far greater, in particular in the area of bringing the essential new functions into every home, provided that the subscriber population and the range of the networks and services concerned reflect the state of the technology and of the market;

23. Takes the view that telecommunications network operators which themselves are willing to provide universal service throughout the territory of a Member State must be able to do so on the basis of the technical and commercial resources of their choice and qualify for commensurate funding in so far as this is warranted;

24. Believes therefore that universal service must be financed at all events on the basis of a fund mechanism managed by the Member State independently from the body or bodies responsible for providing universal service;

25. Proposes an initiative to provide all citizens with, in principle, no-charge access via the Internet to the official documents of the various institutions of the Union (Commission, Council, European Parliament, etc.) and of the Member States;

26. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission.