I am very happy that BEREC (Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications) has given a positive opinion on our draft Recommendation on non-discrimination obligations and costing methodology for regulated wholesale network access. BEREC fully supports our overarching objective to encourage high-speed internet investment across Europe and our strategic objective of ensuring predictable and stable access copper prices, effective non-discrimination obligations that sustain competition, and pricing flexibility for such services to meet demand. Predictable and consistent rules which contribute to a competitive EU single telecoms market are what market players and investors need for long-term planning. We will take account of BEREC's constructive opinion and work closely together to ensure that we deliver a pro-competitive, pro-investment regulatory environment. I am confident that industry will respond positively and invest.

In its monthly package of infringement decisions, the European Commission is pursuing legal action against Member States for failing to comply properly with their obligations under EU law. These decisions covering many sectors aim at ensuring proper application of EU law for the benefit of citizens and businesses.

The European Commission has called a halt to the plans of the Italian telecoms regulator (AGCOM) regarding termination rates which would negatively affect consumers in Italy as well as operators in other Member States.

Internet access and use is widespread amongst the EU population. In the EU27, more than three quarters of households had access to the internet in 2012, compared with just under half in 2006. The proportion of households who have a broadband internet connection has increased more significantly. In 2012, 72% of EU27 households had access to the internet via a broadband connection, compared with 30% in 2006.

Delegates from the 193 member countries of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) have concluded the "World Conference on International Telecommunications" (WCIT) conference in Dubai. Negotiations to review the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs) failed to reach consensus agreement.

Case PL/2012/1394: Wholesale broadband access market in 11 communes in Poland

The European Commission has expressed serious doubts over plans by the Polish telecoms regulator UKE to deregulate part of the Polish wholesale broadband access market. UKE's proposal is based on an out-dated market assessment from March 2011. Moreover, the proposal contradicts a more recent market analysis dating from March 2012 where UKE concluded that no single area was competitive enough in Poland to propose complete deregulation. The Commission has therefore suspended UKE's plans and started a two month in-depth investigation.

The European Commission has expressed serious doubts about a new proposal from the Czech telecoms regulator (ČTÚ) regarding termination rates which would negatively affect consumers in the Czech Republic. The prices proposed by ČTÚ for certain termination services are twice as high as prices in other countries where proper price setting methodologies are applied. ČTÚ has imposed wholesale prices which do not take into consideration next-generation-network based efficient technologies. Termination rates are the rates telecoms networks charge each other to deliver calls between networks, and each operator has market power over access to customers on its own network. These costs are ultimately included in call prices paid by consumers and businesses.

Following public consultations on aspects of non-discrimination and cost methodologies for regulated wholesale network access in autumn 2011, on 12 July 2012 Vice President Kroes issued a policy statement on enhancing the broadband investment environment announcing future durable regulatory guidance in the form of a Commission Recommendation on these topics. At an extraordinary meeting of the Body of European Regulators in Electronic Communications (BEREC) in Brussels on 15 November 2012, agreement was reached on the importance of increasing current levels of infrastructure investment as a key response to the current economic and financial challenges facing Europe. On 5 December 2012, Vice President Kroes has formally sought the opinion of BEREC on a draft 'Commission Recommendation on consistent non-discrimination obligations and costing methodologies to promote competition and enhance the broadband investment environment.' This draft Recommendation is intended to express in concrete regulatory terms the policy orientations outlined on 12 July 2012.

The European Commission has found that a UK umbrella support scheme for investments in next generation access (NGA) broadband networks, 'BDUK', is in line with EU state aid rules. In particular, the scheme is aimed at supporting local projects in rural and remote areas, where such networks would unlikely be developed on commercial terms.

Joint Statement of the EU Delegation to the 7th International Governance Forum (IGF) in Baku.

The European Commission has today decided to add another 120 MHz to the radio spectrum portfolio for 4G technologies, such as LTE (Long Term Evolution), around the 2 GHz band. This band is currently solely used for UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) wireless communications, known as 3G networks. The Decision makes it mandatory for Member States to open the relevant spectrum by 30 June 2014 at the latest, and lays down harmonised technical conditions to allow coexistence between different technologies. On this basis the EU will enjoy up to twice the amount of spectrum for high speed wireless broadband as in the United States, namely around 1000 MHz.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation with a view to updating the current list of relevant wholesale and retail telecoms markets subject to the Commission's "Article 7" procedure under EU telecoms rules. These markets include retail access to the public telephone network and wholesale broadband access. Having a list of relevant markets helps National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) regulate their markets in a coordinated manner. The review will take into account major market and technological developments, such as internet-based applications and services, the convergence between different types of networks and services and the development of very fast internet networks and services. Based on its results, the Commission will then revise the current Recommendation on Relevant Markets which was last updated in 2007. The Commission invites interested parties to respond to the consultation by 8th January 2013.

Hundreds of cyber security experts from across the EU are testing their readiness to combat cyber-attacks in a day-long simulation across Europe today. In Cyber Europe 2012, 400 experts from major financial institutions, telecoms companies, internet service providers and local and national governments across Europe are facing more than 1200 separate cyber incidents (including more than 30 000 emails) during a simulated distributed denial of service (DDoS) campaign. The exercise is testing how they would respond and co-operate in the event of sustained attacks against the public websites and computer systems of major European banks. If real, such an attack would cause massive disruption for millions of citizens and businesses across Europe, and millions of euros of damage to the EU economy.

At a high-level conference in Brussels, business leaders and policy-makers strongly supported the creation of a Connecting Europe Facility as proposed by the European Commission for the European Union's new financing period 2014-2020. With up to 50 billion euros the Connecting Europe Facility could become a key instrument for targeted infrastructure investment at European level to ensure the smooth functioning of the Single Market and boost sustainable growth, jobs and competitiveness across the European Union.

The EU institutions have reinforced their fight against cyber threats by establishing the EU's Computer Emergency Response Team, or CERT-EU, on a permanent basis. This decision follows a successful one-year pilot for the team, which drew positive assessments from clients and peers.

In its Communication on "Promoting the shared use of radio spectrum resources in the internal market" the Commission pushes and supports Member States to move to an enhanced innovation-friendly internal market framework for the shared use of spectrum. Meeting the growing spectrum needs resulting from the exponential growth in wireless data traffic and the increasing importance of wireless connectivity in the economy, is limited by the absence of vacant spectrum. However, the radio spectrum is a unique resource that can be re-used more efficiently with advances in technologies. This makes additional spectrum resources available and lowers the spectrum access hurdles for new users. To cope with the demand and to attract investments into new technologies, the EU needs a supportive regulatory framework that enables legally binding spectrum sharing contracts between users to encourage wireless innovation in the internal market.

The European Commission today unveiled plans to deal with the exponential growth in mobile and wireless data traffic by enabling wireless technologies, including broadband, to share the use of the radio spectrum. With new technologies it is possible to share radio spectrum amongst several users – such as internet providers – or use the spectrum available between TV frequencies, for example, for other purposes. National spectrum regulation often does not reflect the new technical possibilities, leaving mobile and broadband users at risk of poor service as demand grows, and preventing a single market for investment in such communications markets. A coordinated European approach to sharing spectrum will lead to greater mobile network capacity, cheaper wireless broadband, and new markets such as tradable secondary rights for a given spectrum allocation.

The European Commission has called on the Polish telecoms regulator (UKE) to amend or withdraw its proposal to give alternative operators only limited access to Telekomunikacja Polska's (TP) fibre networks. In the Commission's view, UKE's decision could have a negative effect on competition and the future development of fibre networks, and thus limit offers available to consumers and businesses.

The European Commission has expressed serious doubts about a new proposal from the Latvian telecoms regulator (SPRK) regarding fixed termination rates which would negatively affect consumers in Latvia. Termination rates are the rates telecoms networks charge each other to deliver calls between networks, and each operator has market power over access to customers on its own network. These costs are ultimately included in call prices paid by consumers and businesses.