Telekom Must Open Its Network to Rivals

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has overruled an attempt by German regulators to allow Deutsche Telekom, the former state-run phone monopoly, to ban competitors from having access to its new high-speed broadband network. The ECJ sided with the European Commission, which had sued Germany over a 2006 national law that granted Deutsche Telekom a “holiday” from European Union regulations for its 3 billion euro ($4.5 billion) fiber optic network.

“This judgment is an important precedent for telecom regulation across Europe,” the commission said in a statement. “The judgment will help the European Commission and national regulatory authorities to promote, independently of political pressure, effective competition on the telecoms markets.”

Click here to read the New York Times article.