INTERVIEW:
Question 1
There is a seminal EC report on the society, the Bangemann Report, which deals with the
social and economic impact of new information technologies. You have worked in close
connection with Mr Bangemann. Can you summarise the main conclusions of this report?
Answer
The first thing is that the report identifies the enormous growth potential of the new
information and telecommunication technologies. It identifies that growth rates in this
sector of between 10 to 15 %. are possible in the coming years. There's no sector in the
economy for which such growth rates can be expected. And that means that new jobs can be
created if we provide for the right and adequate regulatory framework in order to bring
new applications on the way. And that's why the report underlines the need to accelerate
the process of liberalisation, of deregulation, in order to provide for more competition,
and of utmost importance, to bring down the prices of telecommunications. These are much
too high in Europe, ten times higher for example in the field of leased lines than in the
United States of America. On the basis of the report the Commission has adopted a number
of proposals to introduce more competition, to liberalise, and has set the famous date of
1 January 1998 as the last date to liberalise telephony and the infrastructures. That is
important for business because the companies now have a clear timetable and can plan their
investment on this basis. We expect that now the private sector will invest more. That is
the legislative framework and alternative networks can be used as soon as possible, so
that not only the monopolies will be the main players but private alternative companies
will now have a chance on the market as well. That will bring new dynamism, new jobs, and
because new applications are to the benefit of the citizens, that will help to overcome
problems of modern civilization in the field of environment, in the field of transport, in
the health sector and in the field of education as well because that will bring new
opportunities.
Question 2
There may be a risk associated with teleworking.Do you think that teleworking may imply
the risk of losing the interpersonal dimension of work, the risk of physical if not social
and cultural isolation?
Answer
The information society and its implications, applications, are full of risks. That is
quite clear and we have to be very sensible and have to address the fears as well. That we
have done; we have created a forum for the information society to discuss the additional
actions which are needed to cover such fears. That means that we have to discuss which
additional actions in the social sector, in the legal sector, are necessary to come to
grips with those problems. But on the other hand, we are convinced that we should not
concentrate our debate on the risks and challenges of the information society but should
concentrate on the opportunities. As regards teleworking, there are a number of
opportunities. If you compare the situation in Europe, we have now 1 million teleworkers.
In the United States there are already 16 million teleworkers. If we do not act, we will
lose our opportunities in Europe and that's why the Commission - and that is one element
of the Bangemann Report - is trying to convince people that we have to act now in order to
provide for more jobs in Europe and in order to overcome the problems of competitiveness
in Europe.
Question 3
There is a great demand for global connectivity in Europe and there are practical problems
connected with laying lines and this kind of thing. In this situation in which maybe
different countries may have different problems, what is the situation now as you see it
in the EC Commission?
Answer
Our task in Europe is to provide for synergy effects and to overcome fragmented markets in
the field of telecommunications. That is why we are pushing the idea of trans-European
networks and the idea of interconnection of different networks. In this regard we have
presented a number of proposals which are intended to bring together different standards
in order to have at the end of the day one European standard, which is of the utmost
importance, and secondly to provide for alternative providers in this field as well.
That's why the Commission has proposed a directive on the basis of article 93 of the
Treaty in several fields, in the cable TV field as well, in order to open up closed shops
in this regard and to overcome the situation that these fields are monopolised by the
national telecom operators and give new opportunities to private providers.
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