TELECOMMUNICATIONS : EP AND COMMISSION READY FOR DEBATE ON DIGITAL DIVIDEND.

What will be done with the radio frequencies that are freed up by the gradual transition from analog to digital TV by 2012? In other words, how can the digital dividend' be used to the advantage of services other than broadcasting, such as internet or mobile telephony?

This issue represents a final project for the information society services of the Barroso Commission before the reins are handed over to a new EU executive at the end of 2009. In fact, the EU will not be responding to these issues via the turbulent review of EU telecoms rules (telecoms package) now under way. These matters are particularly controversial because they are likely to call into question the investment plans of broadcasters eager to keep their frequencies to expand their services, particularly high-definition TV.

"We have made a lot of progress. Two years ago, we would not have been able to hold this discussion. Today, as broadcasters migrate to the digital technologies, the idea of a digital dividend has been accepted by a critical mass of member states," commented a Commission official well-versed in the issue, at a conference sponsored by the European branch of the mobile operators' association, GSMA, on 27 January in Brussels.

The Commission will first try to offset the lack of data on where the countries stand with its upcoming publication of an expert study. The official noted that certain member states have already taken key measures concerning the UHF (ultra high frequency) part of the spectrum, currently reserved to broadcasters, with a view to opening it up to other services, possibly mobile internet (see box). "There are decisions in Sweden and France. Germany is in the process of taking important decisions," he explained. "For now, we have to decide the extent to which we want to coordinate management of the digital dividend," the Commission official added - or, to put it plainly, what the EU can do to boost the use of these frequencies, especially in the context of the...

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