Brussels, 02/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Council of telecommunications ministers, held on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Portuguese Minister George Coelho, broadly supported the Commission's approach on the new regulatory framework for telecommunications. The approach was presented by the Commission after public consultation on review of the regulatory framework, and should serve as a basis for the drawing up of directives in June. According to Perr Haugaard, spokesman for Telecommunications Commissioner Erkki Liikanen, "the Member States have on the whole supported the recommendation presented by the Commission on unbundling the local loop. The French Minister Christian Pierret confirmed that his country planned to proceed to this early 2001. He also placed emphasis on the universal service including high-speed Internet. This stance is said to be backed by Spain, Greece, Luxembourg and Italy.
Furthermore, the Council gave its political support to the European objectives proposed in the Commission communication on the World Radiocommunications Conference (WRC 2000), which is to be held in Istanbul from 8 May to 2 June this year. In its conclusions, it expressed its broad support, for: (1) third generation mobile communications (INT-2000/UMTS); (2) satellite radio-navigation (Galileo); (3) radiobroadcasting by satellite; (4) wide band satellite communication; (5) the high density fixed services (HDFS) system. The Council invited the Member States to jointly sign this proposal, and the Commission to report in the near future on the results of the WRC 2000.
Of a strategic and economic interest, the Istanbul Conference will have to decide on the availability of the radio spectrum for a whole series of services. The Commission's Communication, published last March, takes up the Community goals to achieve at the Conference in the fields concerned (transport, recordings, telecommunications, research and development) as well as common European proposals drawn up by the Conference's Preparatory Group. The Communication observes that the radio-communications services are rapidly penetrating the very fabric of European society and contributing to economic growth in Europe, while playing a role of integrating EU peoples and markets.
During the Council, the Portuguese Presidency stressed the need to have a unified position in Istanbul to promote Galileo