MM www.idate.org The European way to think the Digital World Regulatory, infrastructure and tariff aspects of electronic communications and broadband connectivity in the Outermost Regions (OR) A comparison of the current situation with that in the rest of the Community and neighbouring countries Prepared for the European Commission DG Regional Policy December 2005 This study was financed by the European Community and was performed by IDATE and LL&A in partnership with INESC PORTO (Portugal) and MM (Spain). The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors only and under no circumstances are to be construed as those of the European Commission. IDATE – BP4167 – 34092 Montpellier cedex 5 – Tel : +33(0)467 144 444 – Fax : +33(0)467 144 400 – [email protected] Regulatory, infrastructure and tariff aspects of electronic communications and broadband connectivity in the ORs: A comparison of the current situation with that in the rest of the Community and neighbouring countries Final report Contents Introduction............................................................................................................................................ 7 1. State of the art of telecommunications in the ORs....................................................................... 9 1.1. Networks and services............................................................................................................. 9 1.2. Regulation and competition ................................................................................................... 12 1.3. Tariff comparison ................................................................................................................... 16 1.4. Service offerings .................................................................................................................... 20 2. Cross-analysis of issues ............................................................................................................... 21 2.1. Reducing the access gap....................................................................................................... 21 2.1.1. Tariff continuity impacts in the Iberian ORs............................................................................... 21 2.1.2. The impact of not acting to reduce the access gap in the four DOMs ....................................... 25 2.2. The issue of intercontinental connectivity .............................................................................. 28 2.2.1. Telecoms operator positioning and strategies ........................................................................... 28 2.2.2. The impact of intercontinental connectivity on the tariff situation in the ORs............................. 31 2.3. Regional strategies and action plans ..................................................................................... 35 2.3.1. The difficulty of developing overall strategies and integrated action plans ................................ 35 2.3.2. The importance of European leverage ...................................................................................... 37 2.3.3. Primary action orientations of Information Society programmes ............................................... 38 2.3.4. Implementation of priority action orientations ............................................................................ 39 2.4. Authorities and structures in place to address Information Society challenges..................... 44 2.4.1. Regional teams still tenuous and lacking sufficient coordination............................................... 44 2.4.2. Lack of consultation and coordination among players............................................................... 46 2.4.3. Weak tools for IS monitoring and analysis................................................................................. 47 3. Conclusions: Recommendation guidelines ................................................................................ 48 3.1. Introduction: Framing the issues............................................................................................ 48 3.2. Intercontinental, interregional and intraregional connectivity................................................. 50 3.2.1. Conclusions............................................................................................................................... 50 3.2.2. Recommendations .................................................................................................................... 51 3.3. Electronic communications public policy and governance..................................................... 60 3.3.1. Improve regional governance of the Information Society........................................................... 60 3.3.2. Strengthen and improve ICT public policies .............................................................................. 63 3.3.3. Turn the ORs into laboratories for Information Society experiments ......................................... 64 3.4. Concerning regulation............................................................................................................ 68 3.4.1. Conclusion................................................................................................................................. 68 3.4.2. Recommendations .................................................................................................................... 69 August 2005 © IDATE 2 Regulatory, infrastructure and tariff aspects of electronic communications and broadband connectivity in the ORs: A comparison of the current situation with that in the rest of the Community and neighbouring countries Final report 4. Appendices ..................................................................................................................................... 74 4.1. Telecommunications tariff benchmarks ................................................................................. 74 4.2. National regulatory frameworks ............................................................................................. 77 4.2.1. France ....................................................................................................................................... 77 4.2.2. Spain ......................................................................................................................................... 78 4.2.3. Portugal..................................................................................................................................... 80 4.3. Maps of OR telecommunications networks and services ...................................................... 81 4.3.1. Map of the Azores ..................................................................................................................... 81 4.3.2. Map of the Canaries .................................................................................................................. 82 4.3.3. Map of Guadeloupe................................................................................................................... 83 4.3.4. Map of French Guiana............................................................................................................... 84 4.3.5. Map of Madeira ......................................................................................................................... 85 4.3.6. Map of Martinique...................................................................................................................... 86 4.3.7. Map of Reunion ......................................................................................................................... 87 4.4. Glossary ................................................................................................................................. 88 August 2005 © IDATE 3 Regulatory, infrastructure and tariff aspects of electronic communications and broadband connectivity in the ORs: A comparison of the current situation with that in the rest of the Community and neighbouring countries Final report EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The situation of the outermost regions -- the ORs – with respect to the development and penetration of electronic communication services and broadband connectivity is distinctive and can be summarised as follows: − Lagging levels of fixed telephony which, in every case, are behind national averages. − Mobile telephony penetration approaching, and sometimes surpassing, national averages. − Greatly disparate levels of broadband penetration. The Iberian ORs appear to be close to narrowing the gap with their respective national averages; the DOMs greatly lag their national average. − Great technological upheaval in all of the ORs, which are developing satellite/WiFi, WiMAX, WLL, Power Line Carrier, cable modem, 2G and 3G solutions. Our analysis of the status of telecommunication networks and services in the ORs leads us to conclude that there is an access gap between these regions and their countries of origin and, more generally, between these regions and European averages, both in terms of service quality and in terms of tariffs. The crux of the problem as concerns penetration of the Information Society in the ORs lies in the distance separating these regions from their countries of origin. This is reflected especially in notions of geographic isolation and remoteness, the exiguity of the markets involved, and the status of optical submarine infrastructure. The excess cost of intercontinental telecommunication links imposes significant