WRITTEN QUESTION E-3635/00 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Concentration of ICT firms in large cities with a shortage of electricity.
Date: 2000-11-22
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU industrial policy, Netherlands, competence of the Member States, electricity supply, information technology

19.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 174 E/97

The Commission agrees with the statement of

the position of
4.
consumers on the internal electricity market is unequal due to the fact that the degree of market opening
differs from Member State to Member State. It is the Commission(cid:146)s intention, in this respect, to make
proposals which would lead, within the appropriate period, all consumers throughout the Community to
be able to choose their supplier, thus profiting from the benefits of market opening in terms of lower
prices and better service.

the Honourable Member that

(2001/C 174 E/101)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3635/00

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(22 November 2000)

Subject: Concentration of ICT firms in large cities with a shortage of electricity

Can the Commission confirm that Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London and Paris are favourite locations

1.
for ICT firms, not least because of their optical-fibre cable connections?

2.
Can the Commission also confirm that to maintain thousands of websites in cyberspace, to forward
millions of e-mails and to link mobile phones with the Internet these firms need data hotels and telecom
switches as large as sports halls full of computers each of which consumes, for computing and cooling
purposes, as much electricity as a town of 20 000 inhabitants?

Is the Commission aware that new firms requesting adequate connections to the electricity grid in the

3.
cities referred to above face a wait of up to three years?

4. What can the Commission do to spread this (cid:145)new economy(cid:146) over locations with a serious shortage of
high-quality modern job and provide an adequate supply of electricity?

Source: The Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, 3 November 2000.

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(20 December 2000)

1.
The location of ICT firms is influenced by a whole range of factors. Some of these apply to all firms,
e.g. the tax situation, the physical infrastructure and the origin of the firm(cid:146)s founders. Factors specific to
ICT firms include the availability of skilled labour, the proximity of universities specialising in technology,
and network connections, particularly their speed and cost. Taken together, these factors lead a great many
firms to set up in Europe(cid:146)s main cities. However, nothing leads the Commission to suppose that the four
cities the Honourable Member refers to are particularly favoured by ICT firms.

The energy consumption of

2.
is changing constantly. Thanks to
telecommunications equipment
technological progress, equivalent performance is requiring ever less energy, with equipment taking up
ever less space. This unfortunately makes it impossible to calculate the energy consumption and space
requirement of an unspecified set of activities.

3.
The arrangements for connection to the electricity grid, and the obligations placed on distribution
companies, are laid down by the Member States, whose competent authorities are responsible for
monitoring this, without reporting to the Commission, in line with the principle of subsidiarity.

C 174 E/98

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

19.6.2001

Article 11 of Directive 96/92/EC concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity (1)
4.
stipulates that distribution system operators must maintain a secure, reliable and efficient electricity
distribution system in their area, with due regard for the environment. They must not discriminate
between system users or classes of system users.

The Member States have transposed the Directive into national law and must see that it is enforced.

(1) OJ L 27, 30.1.1997.

(2001/C 174 E/102)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3636/00

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(22 November 2000)

Subject: Introducing the high-speed Internet: delays, resistance and incompetence

1.
Is the Commission aware that the application of new technology for improving and speeding up the
use of the Internet is running into delays as a result of the poor quality of broadband Internet supplied by
cable companies for TV connections, the problems surrounding the allocation of frequencies for the
wireless local loop and the opposition of telephone companies to the introduction of digital subscriber
lines?

2.
Can the Commission confirm that the failures, delays and obstacles referred to in question 1 are the
result of conflicting interests of different companies with different owners which, although interdependent
through the shared use of each other(cid:146)s exchanges, transmitters and cables, are unable to cooperate properly
because the growth of one may mean the decline of another?

Does the Commission know whether these problems are peculiar to the Netherlands, or whether they

3.
are characteristic of what happens in other Member States, too?

4. What potential does the Commission see for intervening or mediating if free competition between
companies proves incapable of finding a speedy solution to these problems

Source: The Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, 26 October 2000.

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(18 January 2001)

The Commission is aware that the application of new technologies to provide users with better and faster
Internet access and services can be delayed due to regulatory impediments. That is why the Commission
has taken action to remove barriers to companies making investments to provide higher speed Internet
services. The major recent initiative has been the regulation on local loop unbundling.

A deadline has been set by the new Regulation on unbundled access to the local loop (including both fully
unbundled and shared access) as of 1 January 2001, hence permitting new entrants to use the network of
the incumbent to roll-out digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies. The notified operators need to have a
Reference Offer ready on that date to make the facilities available. The Commission intends to enforce the
obligations in the Regulation and is already closely monitoring the situation in all Member States. Some
Member States, including the Netherlands have already introduced full unbundled access ahead of this date.
Bitstream access, (i.e. the provision of DSL services while using the equipment of the incumbent operator),
is to be provided already under non-discriminatory terms. The Commission understands that operators in
the Netherlands are discussing amongst themselves the problems in relation to the introduction of DSL
services, either via full unbundled access to the local loop, via shared access or via bitstream access and the
telecommunications regulatory authority has issued a consultation paper on collocation.