Translation of "fonction de réseaux multisystèmes " (French → English) :

calls, therefore, on the Commission, in view of the likely failure of the market to supply rural, insular and mountainous areas with NGA networks, to incorporate new organisational models, providing in particular for the involvement of local authorities, such as citizens’ networks and publicly run networks or those acquired using public funds, for the provision and financing of high-speed and ultra-high-speed networks as an option into the Community Guidelines for the application of State aid rules in relation to rapid deployment of broadband networks in order to make broadband functions accessible to all Europeans and ensure that urban ...[+++]and rural areas will be treated equally and coverage can extend to sparsely populated areas and to guarantee the same standards as regards quality, access, and pricing;

According to Article 17(2) of the Framework Directive, ‘Member States shall encourage the use of the standards and/or specifications referred to (. . .) for the provision of services, technical interfaces and/or network functions, to the extent strictly necessary to ensure interoperability of services and to improve freedom of choice for users’.

2. Member States shall encourage the use of the standards and/or specifications referred to in paragraph 1, for the provision of services, technical interfaces and/or network functions, to the extent strictly necessary to ensure interoperability of services and to improve freedom of choice for users.

For that reason only basic filtering and access control functions are performed by the networks, whereas more specific security functions (e.g. authentication, integrity, encryption) are placed at the boundaries of the networks i.e. on the terminals and network servers that act as end points.

Mr President, if the general feeling is that the final networks should also be privatised, I will not argue against it. However, I do feel that in any case it would be wisest to make legal provision to separate the functions of the owners and managers of the networks from those of their users and providers of telematic services.

Member States shall guarantee the political and economic independence of national regulatory authorities by ensuring that national regulatory authorities are legally distinct from and functionally independent of all organisations providing electronic communications networks, equipment or services. Member States that retain ownership or control of undertakings providing electronic communications networks and/or services shall ensure full and effective structural separation of the regulatory function from activities associated with ownership and control. They shall also ensure that any body carrying out regulatory functions is able to act ...[+++]freely, without the further authorisation of any other agency or body, subject only to the right of appeal pursuant to Article 4.