Commission to amend the 1996 Global One Decision

In view of the liberalisation process in the EC telecommunications market, the European Commission is reviewing a 1996 decision exempting the creation of Global One, a joint venture between Deutsche Telekom (DT), France Telecom (FT) and Sprint. The agreement was originally notified under Article 81(3) of the EC Treaty and the seven year exemption period was conditional on the fulfilment of obligations relating to the prevention of discrimination and to cross-subsidisation of activities. Moreover, the original exemption decision covered only the provision of corporate telecommunications services, traveller services and carrier services.

In March 1999, Global One and its parent companies requested a review of this Decision. They requested that the Commission allow Global One to provide all telecommunications services including voice telephony in all Member States and to provide all voice and data services of DT and FT which are available to third parties. DT and FT also requested consent to sell Global One services along with their own services in one contract. The basis of this request was the complete liberalisation of the home markets of the service providers participating in the joint venture. The parties also claimed that the competitive environment in which the joint venture operated had become more intense as a number of strong competitors had subsequently emerged through the creation of other alliances, especially the BT/AT&T joint venture which is not subject to the same restrictions.

Before it makes its decision formally, the Commission has published a Notice inviting all interested parties to comment. The Commission recognises that the process of liberalisation has substantially altered the market and the industry structure. Liberalisation also arose from the WTO Global Agreement on Trade in Basic Telecommunications Services. Finally, the Commission intends to take into account in its formal decision that the BT/AT&T venture will not be restricted in the same way as Global One. (OJ C220 31.07.99; IP/99/609)