Strasbourg, 23/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - With its adoption of the report by Reino Paasilinna (Socialist, Finland) on implementation of the telecommunications regulatory package, the European Parliament called for early action by the European Commission to open EU markets to competition, promote cross-border services and create a uniform operational context. Parliament expressed the view that the present licensing system has led to considerable variation: for instance, the introduction of identical services in different Member States is hindered due to the lack of legal certainty and widely different schedules. The EP called for measures to eliminate these problems. Concerning mobile communications, Parliament noted that fees for licences and authorisations should cover only justified administrative costs. Operators should provide interconnection on commercial terms and avoid overpriced terms and unfair commercial practices. Parliament called for measures to promote all forms of unbundled access to the local telephone loop and other fixed infrastructures and for the development and use of new infrastructure, in particular wireless local loop systems.
Adopting the report by Konstantinos Alyssandrakis (GUE-KKE) on the next steps in radio spectrum policy, Parliament noted the necessity of making provision for the liberalisation of mobile telephone frequencies currently occupied by other similar systems and recommends the development of detailed procedures for the liberalisation of frequencies earmarked for third-generation communication services (UMTS). It noted that spectrum pricing, the auctioning of frequencies and the introduction of a secondary market are only applicable to commercial uses. Member States should harmonise their approaches, choosing either to auction frequencies or issue licences. Revenues arising from these two principles should be invested in research and the use of new information and communication technologies to further develop the information society, instead of being regarded as fiscal income.