Brussels, 11/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - The revision of the European rules of telecommunications is proving to be hard going, as shown by the wide range of different stances taken at the Council of the European Union on Friday 11 December.
The ministers expressed differing views on the need for European action to boost the innovation of the sector. They did, however, show a united front against any increase of the administrative burden.
The Commissioner for the Digital Economy, Günther Oettinger, showed impressive determination to fight for a more European management of the spectrum. “I hope to see 5G on the market in 2020, but first of all our frequency work has to be more coordinated”. He cynically added: “when I go back home to Germany, I know that I've crossed the border because I lose all connection for six minutes. This is unacceptable. What will happen when we have connected cars? Anybody would think we were in Rwanda, Uganda or Burundi!”
The European Commission plans to present new legislative proposals in 2016 to ensure a more effective coordination of the radio spectrum, create incentives to investment in ultra-fast broadband and ensure fair competition conditions for all market players.
Whatsapp and Facetime under scrutiny. The ministers' meeting therefore focused on the member states' priorities and expectations in this area, including in terms of connectivity and providers of over-the-top services (OTT). A public consultation is underway and will run until 30 December on the rules to be applied to these businesses, which offer messaging services without the involvement of a traditional network operator. On this specific subject, many member states called for equality of treatment between operators, platforms and providers. “We have to take the end purpose of these services as our basis, rather than the means they use”, argued France, supported by Estonia, Spain and Latvia. “We have to lift the binding rules applicable to the existing operators so that the new ones can act on a level playing field”, said Belgium, supported by Malta. Other member states, among them Sweden and Hungary, stressed the need not to hurry. They argue that the priority should be to start by defining OTTs and clarifying their link to more traditional services.
Connectivity and state aid. Several member states, including Bulgaria, Spain and Italy, called for more flexibility in state aid “to encourage broadband cover in rural areas”. When asked about this at a press conference, Oettinger said that “access to broadband shouldn't be limited to big cities. This takes investment in broadband which isn't doable on the market. This means that we need additional public incentives to investors to allow businesses or investors to put money in”. After several more questions, he added: “it's Commissioner Margrethe Vestager (Ed: Competition) who heads up the work on this dossier (…). We are ensuring as much flexibility as we can to try to avoid legal dispute related to competition. Aid is a good thing. But this cannot be carried out to the detriment of other companies”, he replied. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)