The European Commission is expected today to propose a significant simplification of EU rules regulating the telecoms market, but it is stopping short of calling for a single EU-wide regulator.

The EU executive is also set to issue a recommendation to member states to open up to competition the "last mile" of phone lines that connect homes and companies to telecoms networks, known as the "local loop". The local loop has been the last bastion of former telecoms monopolies in many EU states.

Today's Commission paper will set out the blueprint for the next generation of telecoms regulation, replacing the framework put in place in the mid-1990s as Brussels prepared for EU-wide telecoms liberalisation. It is the culmination of several months of consultations with industry and consumers.

Although elements of the paper could still be altered as it is adopted by the 20 commissioners today, it is expected to recommend reducing the 20 or so directives that regulate telecoms to about half a dozen.

But officials said consultations had indicated that there was "no support" for an EU-wide regulatory body, though the paper aims to foster greater co-ordination and coherence between national regulators.

The paper aims to cut red tape for telecoms companies and make it easier to obtain licences. It will lay down certain "universal service" requirements for operators, as well as basic consumer rights. The plan would revise the market share definitions that determine operators' obligations to open networks to competitors.