LUXEMBOURG -(Dow Jones)- European Union Information Society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen Wednesday said more action is needed to deregulate the "last mile" of wire connecting people to the Internet.

"Member states must push (operators) to do it," Liikanen told journalists following a meeting with the E.U. telecommunication ministers. "Further progress is needed."

Under the E.U. law that went into effect Jan. 1, incumbent telecom operators must grant access to competitors to the network connecting a consumer's premises to the operator's local facility.

However, compliance varies among E.U. countries. Some nations, such as Germany, Finland and Sweden, have opened up the local loop to competitors, but the degree of actual competition is still limited.

In many countries, the incumbent has delayed giving regulators information - including prices for high-speed Internet access - that new entrants need to compete and offer new services.

National regulatory authorities in only four out of 15 member states - Denmark, Finland, Spain and the U.K - have determined that incumbent operators' unbundling offers are in line with E.U. law.

The unbundling offers include technical details on how new entrants can install their equipment in local telephone exchanges and the price that incumbents can charge for leasing their telephone lines.

Still, incumbents in four member states - Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Portugal - haven't even made unbundling offers, Liikanen said.

Full access to the incumbents' lines is offered in seven members states, but new entrants usually aren't interested in competing with the incumbent in the local voice telephone market.

New entrants want to offer more profitable services such as high-speed Internet access, but national regulators in only four members have approved the incumbents' price offers for this service.

"This is a disappointment," said Per Haugaard, Liikanen's spokesman. "This hasn't taken off in any member state, except Finland to some extent." - - 04/04/01 15-04G

(This story was originally published by Dow Jones Newswires)