DIGITAL SINGLE MARKET : FREQUENCIES: PARLIAMENT AND COMMISSION ON SAME WAVELENGTH?

At first sight, it appears to be an extremely technical issue and, indeed, the sharing of radio frequencies will doubtless not spark the same interest as internet freedom during the vote on the telecoms package by the European Parliament's Committee on Industry (ITRE), on 24 February. Yet it contains all the ingredients of a good Western.

First, there is the duel between broadcasters and mobile telephone operators. Broadcasters were the first in the arena and hope to keep control over their existing frequencies. Mobile phone operators want to conquer new frequency territories to develop high-speed data transfer.

Second, there is a power struggle between member states on the one hand, which want to keep their sovereignty over this "public good," and the European Commission on the other, which would like to play the role of sheriff. For years, the executive has been pushing for greater harmonisation on spectrum allocation in Europe.

"The Commission has a number of irons in the fire" for taking forward its harmonisation goals, explains a national expert: a high-level group of business leaders headed by Pascal Lamy, the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) of national regulators, development of a mandate for spectrum allocation standards, and now Articles 8 to 16 of the draft regulation on the single digital market, which set licensing criteria and regulation principles.

Apparently, members of the ITRE committee are hoisting the white flag. If the compromise amendments currently on the table are adopted on 24 February and then in plenary on 2 or 3 April, Parliament will have made very few changes to the draft text. "Parliament is on our side," applauds the European Commission.

Keeping ammunition on hand for the future negotiations with the Council, MEPs nevertheless introduce a sizeable change: in negotiations on the minimum duration of the right to use a radio frequency between rapporteur Pilar del Castillo (EPP, Spain) and the shadow rapporteurs, "we agreed on 25 years," said Catherine Trautmann (France), who negotiated for the Socialists. This time limit would also be valid for existing licences. All the provisions on the secondary market for radio spectrum licensing - eg the resale of access rights - may well ruffle the member states' feathers.

MEPs also take away the sheriff's badge: the European Commission would have liked to have a right of veto over allocation of frequencies in member states. The member states were fiercely opposed to...