European Union Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding said she does not expect political wrangling over her plans this week to shake up telecom rules to derail the creation of a single EU telecoms watchdog.

Asked where she saw political consensus, given the initial opposition to her plans, Reding said. It is completely upside down.

That is normal that it is upside down because so far the governments mainly and also the European parliaments have only heard the conflicting views of lobbyists. There were a lot of myths and slogans going on, she said at a news conference.

Now we are going down to earth and looking at what is the reality in the texts ... Things will become much better, she added.

On Tuesday, the European Commission proposed giving national telecoms regulators major new powers to split dominant operators and also wants to be allowed to override national regulators' decisions via a single EU telecoms watchdog. Former monopolies have criticised the plans, saying they would discourage operators from investing in new networks such as optic fibre. The European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association ETNO which represents dominant companies such as France Telecom and Spain's Telefonica has also opposed the plan.

The measures need to be agreed by EU governments and parliaments to become law late in 2009 or early 2010.

Reding said it remains to be seen how any new spectrum will be used and made available to new entrants into the market.

There is going to be spectrum to be given out. To whom, has to be discussed with governments and the commission and today I can imagine that one or the other governments will have specific demands on the table. We will see what they will say.

Reding said she could not allow the present regulatory framework to remain and that she had she had wanted to disturb the cosy relationship that exists among European regulators.

I don't want to eliminate national regulators. I want to bring them into one room, sitting around one table, deciding on remedies. This is a wake-up call for national regulators to move, she said.

Telecoms