There were no surprises when Sir Leon Brittan finally presented his paper of proposals for telecommunications deregulation in the European Community late on Wednesday: it was characteristically European, being muddled and full of compromises. The European Commission favour ending national telephone companies’ monopoly on cross-border phonecalls within – but not beyond – the European Community so that France Telecom SA and the Deutsche Bundespost Telekom will be free to continue ripping subscribers off on calls to Sweden or the US. The Commission is also stepping back from trying to impose a diktat, saying that it will consult telephone companies before taking any action at all. The statement listed four possible courses of action but favoured an intermediate option of opening up voice telephony between member states to competition. Sir Leon Brittan ruled out action before the end of the year and stressed that the Commission’s plans would not touch domestic phone calls.
