European telecoms overhaul overcomes final hurdle

Brussels - A major overhaul of the European Union's telecoms market aimed at boosting consumer choice and the spread of high-speed internet connections has overcome a final hurdle and should now come into force early next year, officials in Brussels said Thursday. The announcement followed a late-night agreement clinched by national governments and the European Parliament which will prevent officials from cutting off internet users caught downloading illegal content without the prior consent of a magistrate. France had been pushing for a speedier procedure in a bid to crack down on rampant internet piracy. Officials in Brussels stressed that Wednesday night's agreement was backed by European members of Sweden's Pirate Party, which seeks to uphold the rights of internet users to freely download copyright-protected content. The internet freedom provision was the last remaining obstacle to the approval of the European Union's Telecoms Reform after years of discussions. 'This internet freedom provision is unprecedented across the globe and a strong signal that the EU takes fundamental rights very seriously, in particular when it comes to the Information Society,' said EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding. 'The agreement on the new internet freedom provision, which has the unanimous support of all negotiators, now paves the way for a swift entry into force of this telecoms reform,' Reding said. The commissioner said the reform aims to strengthen consumer rights and give telecoms clients more choice. 'It will also boost competition and investment in telecoms markets, and open up airwaves for new mobile services, allowing internet broadband for all Europeans,' Reding said. Under the reform, for instance, consumers will have the right to change their fixed or mobile operator in one day, without having to change their old phone number. It currently takes about a week to do so. Other provisions include ways of making it easier to spread the use of broadband internet connections in rural areas and of protecting consumers against spam emails and data breaches. A new European Telecoms Authority will bring national regulators together, thus ensuring fair competition and harmonized EU rules. Once the reform comes into force, member states will have 18 months to transpose the new provisions into national law.