Tuesday’s hearing is being organised by the Parliament’s industry, research and energy committee. Gunnar Hökmark, the Swedish centre-right MEP who is leading the Parliament’s work on the issue, supports the 2013 deadline and believes that an agreement can be reached by the end of the Hungarian presidency.
He said: “Time is running out, especially in this sector with the developments we are seeing in Asia.”
Hökmark said it was important that the policy did not exclude new entrants to the market, but he said it should also acknowledge the potential importance to culture and society of spectrum, by giving broadcasters the opportunity to have a share in its future.
Radio spectrum could be made available by 2013.
The Hungarian government, on behalf of the European Union’s member states, is aiming to reach an agreement with the European Parliament by the summer on making additional radio spectrum available for broadband services.
Broadcasters and telecoms companies will be in the thick of the debate about how and when the 800 MHz band, which is ideal for high-speed wireless services, is made available. The band, known as the ‘digital dividend’, is being freed up as analogue television signals are replaced by digital.
If the best spectrum is given to just a few operators with deep pockets…consumers will have to pay for bad policy choices
Battle lines will be drawn at a public hearing on Tuesday (1 February) when all sides aim to convince MEPs and member states of their positions, following the publication of a European Commission proposal in September, which said that the spectrum should be made available to broadband providers by 1 January 2013.
Officials from Hungary say that they will push member states to reach political agreement before the end of June, when Hungary’s presidency of the EU’s Council of Ministers ends. But some other member states, which are hoping to make hundreds of millions of euros from selling off the spectrum, believe that the 2013 target is too ambitious.
Telecommunication firms are broadly supportive of the Commission’s first Radio Spectrum Policy Programme, which was adopted last September and strives for harmonisation while dealing with competition issues.
They argue that the digital dividend is essential if they are to keep up with rapidly growing demand from consumers. Mobile internet traffic is expected to increase ten-fold between 2010 and 2015.
A fair sale?
Although it is presenting a united front in calling for urgent release of the spectrum, the telecoms industry is divided over how the sale should take place. Smaller companies fear that the large mobile operators will be able to obtain a stranglehold.
They point to Germany, which has already auctioned off its 800 MHz band, where two-thirds of the allocation went to just two operators, Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone. The two companies already hold the majority of the existing 900 MHz band.
Erzsebet Fitori, the director of regulatory affairs at the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (Ecta), said: “If the best spectrum is given to just a few operators with deep pockets and the market further consolidates, consumers will have to pay the bill for bad policy choices in the end. They will have less choice and less innovative services at higher prices.”
She warned that an anti-competitive outcome would endanger the objectives of the EU’s Digital Agenda, because consumers would not be able to afford the high-speed broadband services.
Broadcasters are wary of losing parts of the spectrum that they have traditionally used, particularly as it is their own investment into digital television that has freed up the spectrum.
The European Broadcasting Union warns that radio spectrum should be seen as a “public good” that should be “managed with special attention, striking a balance between economic, cultural and social values in the public interest”.
Tuesday’s hearing is being organised by the Parliament’s industry, research and energy committee. Gunnar Hökmark, the Swedish centre-right MEP who is leading the Parliament’s work on the issue, supports the 2013 deadline and believes that an agreement can be reached by the end of the Hungarian presidency.
He said: “Time is running out, especially in this sector with the developments we are seeing in Asia.”
Hökmark said it was important that the policy did not exclude new entrants to the market, but he said it should also acknowledge the potential importance to culture and society of spectrum, by giving broadcasters the opportunity to have a share in its future.