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By Ron Coates, 27 May 2004 17:50

NEWS The UK has Europe's best telecoms regulator, closely trailed by Denmark and Ireland, with Germany and Belgium coming in far down the field.

That's according to a study released by trade body ECTA (European Competitive Telecommunications Association). The study also shows that there is a direct correlation between effective regulation and the level of investment in telecoms.

Countries such as the UK, which have effective regulation and a low level of state ownership, get the most investment per capita. Germany, which lacks transparency and has a slow legal system, has the least investment.

Andy Tarrant, ECTA director of regulatory affairs, said: "We are telling member states that they are actually suffering an economic penalty because investment is low where regulation is less effective."

He said that data to show how this translated into costs to the consumer and how it affected services available was under preparation by other international bodies.

ECTA has previously predicted that capital investment in telecoms would be at least €19bn in the period 2004 to 2008, after investing €79bn in the 1999 to 2003 period.

The study, produced for ECTA by consultants SPC Network, evaluated regulatory regimes on a scorecard based on 66 criteria. It also showed that there was a 90 per cent correlation between investment per capita and strength of regulatory regime.

All countries had their strengths and weaknesses. The UK is strong overall but was shown as slow to settle disputes and in the liberalisation of LLU (local loop unbundling).

Germany is weak generally but was effective in allowing right of way over private land for the rolling out of 3G networks.

The study was based on the situation at the end of last year and Tarrant admitted that Ofcom would make an even better showing now that the new LLU regime is in place. Belgium, second worst, has also made an improvement since the study figures were collected.

ECTA has been campaigning for a common European regulatory framework.