TELECOMMUNICATIONS : DEBATE REOPENS ON RADIO SPECTRUM.

In advance of a summit' on a European radio spectrum policy, the European Commission is preparing the ground through a public consultation that will run until 9 April. The subject is sensitive for member states, which are far from willing to give up their national prerogatives.

The technical question of radio spectrum is influential economically speaking: the services that rely on it (defence, transport, space applications, television, mobile phones, etc) are worth 300 billion a year in European GDP. In its consultation, launched on 4 March, the Commission raises questions on the economic use of the spectrum: Are there enough frequencies allocated to broadband internet services (keeping in mind that the EU wants to cover all its territory by 2013)? How can SMEs make better use of the spectrum? To what extent would the development of pan-European services benefit from coherent' spectrum management? Should the EU take more action to ensure that the audiovisual frequencies freed up as a result of the switchover to digital ( digital dividend') are allocated to other technologies, particularly wireless internet?

The Commission also raises questions on satellite access to spectrum, particularly the EU satellite navigation programmes (Galileo and GMES), international negotiations, the connection between spectrum and competition, and the impact of radio frequencies on health. How can protection of human health be improved as radio frequencies become increasingly present in the environment? Is further research needed?

In short, the consultation raises broad, general questions that will be discussed at the summit in late March. Three sessions are planned over two days, the first on the role of spectrum in European economic recovery and social inclusion, the second on the use of the digital dividend in the EU and the third (a plenary session) on the multi-annual spectrum programme the Union intends to adopt.

"This consultation will help the...