The German telecommunications market, Europe's largest, is the least open to competition, while Britain, Denmark and France have the most-level playing fields, according to a study of 16 European Union telecom markets to be released on Friday. The report by the European Competitive Telecommunications Association, a Brussels-based group of 150 companies that are competing for customers with former state-owned phone monopolies.

Measured such factors as access for new competitors, the diligence and independence of national regulators, adherence to EU regulations and the ease of legal appeals. Increased competition, overseen by government antitrust regulators, generally leads to lower consumer prices and better conditions. In the ranking, ECTA's third since 2002, Britain and Denmark received top honours in terms of competitiveness, followed by France, Austria and Ireland. Germany and Greece were tied at the bottom, preceded by Poland, the Czech Republic and Belgium.

In most cases, competitive markets have aggressive, effective national regulators, according to the report. But in Germany, the Bundesnetzagentur regulator has never levied a single fine against a telecom company, even though it has the legal power to do so, according to the report. In addition, the former state-owned monopoly Deutsche Telecom routinely appeals regulatory decisions not to its liking, starting a court process that delays decisions on key business issues for up to seven years, the report said.

"That basically means that we are unable to make key decisions about business planning, or invest in new technology," said Christ of Sommerberg, head of regulatory affairs at Cologne, Germany-based QSC, and a company that sells Internet voice and data services to businesses. In 2001, QSC sued the German telecom regulator over its decision upholding the level of Deutsche Telecom's fees for competitors to sell their services over Telekom's network. Though QSC filed the suit four years ago, Mr Sommerberg said a district court in Germany would not make an initial decision in the case until next year, and a final resolution probably would not come until 2008."This intentional misuse of the German legal system has the effect of discouraging competition," Mr Sommerberg said. A spokeswoman for Germany's Bundesnetzagentur declined to comment.

Mark Nierwetberg, a Deutsche Telecom spokesman, said his company's fees for local loop access were fair and, in fact, less than the former monopoly's actual costs. "We are not for example allowed to include the costs of our Vivento operation in these fees," Mr Nierwetberg said, referring to the government-mandated Telecom unit with 16,000 workers currently in retraining pro-grams.Mr Nierwetberg said ECTA's members were attempting to win legislation that would force former monopolies such as Telecom to give them "bit stream access"- a low-cost, high-volume wholesale rental of Telecom's network.

Hundreds of people in Ahmedabad, including scores of adolescents, are losing their sleep every day, literally, over their aspirations to make it big in their pursuits. If 45-year-old Hasmukh Shah is spending sleepless nights due to the swings in the share market, so is 15-year-old Neha Sharma, a student of one of the most prominent schools of the city, who is unable to catch up with her sleep worrying all the time about her academic performance.

Amdavadis are paying a price for their quest to make a place for themselves putting their health at risk insomnia afflicts at least 50 per cent of the populace here. Doctors refer to insomnia as a silent epidemic that is affecting more and more people every day.In fact, Neha Sharma represents a growing class of insomniacs. "Not a healthy trend at all," remarks clinical psychologist with the Apollo Hospital, Puja Pushkarna. She informs that according to a study undertaken by St Xavier's College some years back, of the 70 students from leading schools of the city taken as a sample, 90 per cent were found to be suffering from depression.

"Almost all of them informed ofanxiety-induced sleeplessness," she elaborates. This is just the tip of the iceberg considering most of the cases in children and adolescents go undetected, says Vastrapur-based psychiatrist Amita Saxena."Increasing competition among peers, high expectations of parents, and lack of support system to turn back to is giving these youngsters a tough time," adds pediatrician Dr Hasmukh Patel.

As for adults, the unending desire to score better in their professional pursuits is taking toll on their naps. Psychiatrist Vinod Goyal gives a specific example to put across his point. "Gujaratis have a knack for share market. If there is a boom in the share market, they get thrilled that their Rs 10 is now valued at Rs 400. Then they lose sleep if the share falls down to Rs 300. They don't appreciate that their Rs 10 has grown to Rs 300. People seem to have stopped appreciating their present," he remarks.

Psychiatrist with the Sterling Hospital Dr Hemang Desai adds that the changing lifestyle of the city is compounding the problem. Erratic working hours, insecurity in job and relationships, too much of touring and partying for long hours are eating out on everyone's sleeping hours. Those in the BPO and call centres are most vulnerable to insomnia. "Even addiction to the SMS fad at late hours is seen to be disturbing the sleep pattern," observes Ms Pushkarna.

Although insomnia is not a disease, doctors observe that it should be addressed before psychosomatic disorders develop, be it with regard to eating disorders, constipation, rise in blood pressure or even mood swings. Psychologists insist that medication is not the solution to check insomnia "since in most cases people get hooked on to sleep-inducing drugs". For children and adolescents, it is up to parents to address their insecurities, be it with regard to studies or relationships.

As for adults, they need to control their insecurities and check their anxieties that are overpowering their mind and affecting their health. People need to shut their mind to everything and sleep with a positive thought, suggests clinical psychologist Dr Pratima Bhattacharjee. Physical activities like aerobics and yoga helps cure insomnia, say experts.