Brussels, 12/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - Today, most of the EU Member States have granted licenses for third generation mobile communications ("3G"). The deployment of the first networks is soon to begin, and the first commercial applications have been announced. This is the moment chosen by the European Commission to adopt a communication that identifies the main challenges to be faced by all actors concerned so that the 3rd generation lives up to expectations and fulfils its role in the establishment of the EU's information society.
Adopted on Wednesday, the communication entitled "Towards the Full Roll-Out of Third Generation Mobile Communications" will be presented to the Seville Summit. It comes in response to a request formulated by the European Council of Barcelona. In the communication, the Commission stresses that the financial environment is currently a heavy burden for the communications sector overall, which also affects 3G roll-out plans. In this context, it believes that the sector is best served by letting the market drive the process ahead and by allowing for the deployment of a healthy competitive environment to generate new products which consumers will want to buy and use. The Commission, and also the public authorities, sets itself the task of contributing to sustaining confidence in the sector by ensuring a favourable, predictable and stable regulatory environment conducive to a competitive market serving consumers' interests.
The Commission considers the 3G licensing conditions, on which much ink has already flowed, should not in principle change "because the sector is best served by a predictable environment". In response to a question put by a journalist, the Commissioner responsible for the information society, Erkki Liikanen, specified that "changes to licence conditions should be envisaged only when circumstances have changed unpredictably and in these cases any modification should be proportional, transparent and non-discriminatory". The Commission is willing to examine solutions with a view to reaching a harmonised approach with the Member States responsible for granting licenses, as it was concerning the conditions applicable to the sharing of the network's infrastructures.
Furthermore, it considers that, in the short term, the public authorities must facilitate the physical deployment of the networks by harmonising the rules applicable for the granting of authorisation for setting up base stations and by accelerating site acquisition procedures. They may also contribute to heightening public awareness on the risk-free use of mobile equipment. Concerning the development of attractive applications and content, a determining element for the success of the 3G , the report indicates that this challenge is best addressed by the market players but that the Commission can give support by seeding research activities and by fostering the implementation of public services and applications (eGovernment).
Finally, the Commission stresses that, in the longer term, harmonisation in licensing conditions and radio spectrum assignment approaches across the European Union may favour the integration in the Internal Market for communications and avoid market distortions and uncertainty in the sector, also in view of the future enlargement of the European Union. It considers that discussions should be initiated on a more flexible framework for handling rights to use radio spectrum. The Commission intends to use the new regulatory framework for electronic communications for collaborating with the national administrations with a view to developing new harmonised approaches to licensing and attribution of rights to use radio spectrum for wireless applications.