The European Commission Wednesday said it has launched a consultation on how to make sure the Internet remains a level playing field for all online businesses and operators.

The commission wants to determine whether Internet providers should be allowed to manage online traffic, prioritizing one kind of traffic over another. This has become an issue with the onset of broadband and online services which require more bandwidth, such as voice calls over Internet or online TV.

Many operators want to prioritize some online services during peak hours, but the commission is worried this may not be fair to users, who don't always know why they are having trouble using some services such as Skype, for example.

The commission wants input from interested parties on whether the current level of competition between Internet service providers and existing European transparency laws are enough to give consumers real choice, or whether the commission should further regulate traffic management.

The consultation, which ends Sept. 30, will be used as part of a report on net neutrality, which should be presented by the end of this year, the commission said.

Europe Unlimited has launched the 5th European Venture Contest. The Contest aims to find the most innovative start-up companies with the greatest potential to enhance the competitiveness and growth of Europe, independent of industry sector. The 2009 edition will involve 10 European locations across Europe in  Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland , Portugal, Spain and the UK. The winner receives recognition as one of the most innovative companies at an international level. Many of the previous finalists have since successfully raised capital and expanded their business.

Europe Unlimited is now inviting all innovative European technology start-ups and high-growth companies that are ready for a competitive pan-European business and innovation contest in order to gain access to active venture capital investors and reap widespread visibility to technology corporations.  Applicants should be private companies that contribute cutting-edge innovation in technology and services and have international growth aspirations. Over the past years, more than 2,000 companies applied to participate in the European Venture Contest, of which 566 were identified in a stringent selection process as candidates to present to venture capital and corporate investors.

In 2008, the mean financing sought by innovative technology companies was just around €4m per company, slightly up from 2007 with some €3.5m, for an average of 30% in equity. At €6.8m life science and biotechnology companies were in general looking for more funding, corresponding to costly and complex product development, compared to ICT and clean-technology companies, which on average sought around €3m.

The Winners of the European Venture Contest 2008 were:

Overall winner: InMold Biosystems (DK)
Runner-ups: RPR Technologies (NO); Trovit (ES)
Public Award for the Best Elevator Pitch: NUUBO (ES)

At the European Venture Contest a jury of international investors will assess commercial potential, team experience, competitive position, product merit and technological development, interest in investments or associations. The have so far included successful and serial entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and corporate investors. For details of European Venture Contest 2009 and previous years, please check our website at

The European Venture Contest is designed to help innovative technology companies face funding and strategic challenges across the fragmented European market. Participants receive detailed feedback on their strategic strength, while being able to grow their professional network to include some of Europe's most active early stage investors.  The European Venture Contest 2009 will evaluate and award world-class innovative companies. The Contest acts as an accelerator to the growth of young innovative companies by providing access to top-level international partners, advisors and investors.

Please visit our website for more information.

The European Parliament formally adopted a range of new telecoms measures yesterday but significantly watered down plans to create an EU-wide 'super regulator' that would have power to overrule national regulators, reports Reuters. Instead, the Parliament has backed the creation of the Body of European Regulators in Telecoms (BERT) group, an enhanced version of the existing European Regulators Group (ERG) that comprises the 27 member state national telecoms regulators.

Rather than giving the European Commission a veto over regulatory decisions - as was the original plan - BERT will take decisions by a two-thirds majority. BERT will be funded by a mix of EU money and national government money, says Reuters, also watering down a proposal for full EU funding that would have made the body independent of national governments. The decision to create BERT was first reported in the summer after a number of national regulators were understood to have objected to the original proposals. 

According to Reuters, the new regulations will also allow national regulators to impose functional separation on incumbent fixed-line operators, and also remain in charge of decisions on spectrum - rejecting plans for a pan-EU approach to spectrum allocation. Other measures include increased consumer rights disclosures and increased e-privacy provisions.

Source http://www.gsm.org/