digital-single

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By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission will take into account increased competition from cable operators and alternative services such as WhatsApp when it overhauls Europe's telecoms rules next year, a move that will be cheered by the telecoms industry. A draft seen by Reuters of the Commission's strategy for creating a digital single market says telecom operators compete with “over-the-top” services “without being subject to the same regulatory regime”. The bloc's telecom firms such as Orange and Deutsche Telekom have long called for lighter-touch regulation, after years of declining revenues and competition from new entrants, to enable them to invest in network upgrades. Telecom companies point to increased competition from services such as Skype (owned by Microsoft ) and online messaging as a reason for easing the regulatory burden.

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By Foo Yun Chee and Rene Wagner BERLIN (Reuters) – European Union regulators plan a year-long investigation into ecommerce to help remove barriers to cross-border trade in the 28-nation bloc, the EU's antitrust chief said on Thursday. European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said she decided to launch the inquiry because such hurdles were hampering the growth of online sales as well as signs that some companies may be deliberately blocking trade. According to the European Commission, while one in two EU consumers shopped online last year, just 15 percent of them bought a product online in another EU country. “It is high time to remove remaining barriers to ecommerce, which is a vital part of a true Digital Single Market in Europe,” Vestager told reporters.