BRUSSELS -(Dow Jones)- Telecoms operators should be allowed to enter into risk-sharing agreements when investing in high-speed broadband networks to allow them to recoup some of their costs, European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said Thursday.
"The heavy investments necessary for building a high-speed broadband network should be taken into account when setting the conditions for mandatory access," Kroes said in a speech given at the European Competitive Telecommunications Association's conference in Brussels.
A fair return on investment should always be included in the access price when a new entrant is seeking access to an existing network, Kroes added, recommending regulators to allow network owners to charge a risk premium based on the level of risk to which investors are exposed at the start of a new infrastructure project.
Kroes said the commission cannot itself set a fair price for the risk premium, as this will vary from project to project.
Instead, a full assessment should be made by individual national telecom regulators to evaluate the risks faced by investors, who should then come to some conclusion about access prices, Kroes said.
National regulators should also encourage new market entrants to build their own fiber network where possible, she said. However regulators have to grant competitors physical access to networks as long as there is no business case for competing infrastructure to be built, Kroes said.
-By Peppi Kiviniemi, Dow Jones Newswires; +32 (0)2 741 1483; peppi.kiviniemi@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 27, 2008 12:49 ET (17:49 GMT)

Publié le 27 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones