Today Ofcom has withdrawn its notifications to the European Commission in respect of the identification of markets for national managed transmission services; and for local, regional and metropolitan managed transmission services. It is also withdrawing its notification of the finding of significant market power in the market for national managed transmission services.

Under the EU regulatory framewor for electronic communications national regulators have to communicate to the Commission any envisaged measure that has a significant impact in the relevant market. This consultation procedure seeks to ensure transparency and consistency accross the Member States and to palliate the risk of fragmentation if decisions at the national level are taken in a non-homogenous way.

The withdrawal of these notifications (which were made on November 11) follows discussions with the European Commission but does not mean that either in the Commission’s or Ofcom’s view there is no rationale for ex-ante regulation of these markets. On the contrary, Ofcom believes there is a strong case for regulation but apparently it still needs more time to figure out how to do it. The consultation process is open until January 28th.

M�nica Ari�o