“Let us consult upon to-morrow’s business”*: consultation on radio spectrum policy programme

Posted on March 4, 2010 | Filed Under spectrum policy

Now that the interregnum is over and Neelie Kroes has taken the reins of DG INFSO, the long dry spell that we had to endure without consultation documents from the Commission finally is a thing of the past. After it started the universal service consultation started two days ago (see this post), the Commission today released a consultation document calling for input in preparation for the Radio Spectrum Policy Programme (press release). The “multiannual spectrum policy programme”, as it is called in Article 8a, paragraph 3, of the Framework Directive, as revised by Directive 2008/140/EC (”Better Regulation” Directive), “shall set out the policy orientations and objectives for the strategic planning and harmonisation of the use of radio spectrum in accordance with the provisions of this [ie: Framework] Directive and the Specific Directives.”

In Addition, a “Spectrum Summit“, jointly organized by Parliament and Commission, will be held on 22 and 23 March 2010.

*) Shakespeare, King Richard III, Act V, Scene 3

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Another case for Cave? Commission tender for study on digital dividend

Posted on July 13, 2008 | Filed Under spectrum policy

transmitterFor the Commission, the case is clear: “The digital dividend … opens up sufficient spectrum for broadcasters to significantly develop and expand their services while at the same time ensuring that other important social and economic uses, such as broadband applications to overcome the ‘digital divide’, have access to this valuable resource.” The only thing missing seems to be a clear scenario how the Commission can convince the member states that an optimal use of the digital dividend can only be achieved by letting the Commission coordinate a European approach - and that this approach means making spectrum available “to the most valuable uses without pre-conditions” (and for “most valuable uses” read: uses that make the most money using the spectrum).

So in order to prepare for a legislative proposal on a coordinated approach to the digital dividend, the commission has put up a tender “Exploiting the Digital Dividend”. According to the tender specifications (from which the quotes above are taken), the study will

  • draw up an inventory of national situations affecting the digital dividend
  • perform a socio-economic analysis to determine the potential social, cultural and economic impact of the main possible uses of the digital dividend
  • provide investigation and “modelisation” of key exogenous constraints
  • development and validate options & scenarios for the EU coordinated approach
  • and finally make a recommendation and propose a “roadmap”

The Study will also provide the major input for the impact assessment that will accompany the Commission’s proposal. As the work on the study will take a full year, and the contract could be concluded in September at the earliest, it will not be before the end of 2010 that a Commission proposal on the digital dividend is to be expected. And for the study, it does sound like another case for Martin Cave - I’d be surprised if, in one way or another, Professor Cave would not be involved.

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Talking on air - rules on in-flight mobile phone use

Posted on April 8, 2008 | Filed Under communication technologies, spectrum policy

uber_den_wolken.jpgYesterday the European Commission introduced rules to harmonise the technical and licensing requirements for the use of mobile phones on board aircrafts (click here for the press release). The idea is to allow passengers to “receive and make calls and messages safely with their own mobile phones while flying all over Europe“. Technically the passengers’ mobile phones will be operated by an onboard cellular network connected to the ground via satellite (The system is already under commercial trial by Air France-KLM). At the same time the phones will be kept from connecting directly to mobile networks on the ground below. That way the airlines will be able to provide truly Europe-wide telecoms services with only one Member State’s licence, namely the one they are registered in.

While the European Commission says it is responding to demand from air passengers to use their mobile phones during flights, some airlines like for e.g. British Airways, Austrian Airlines and Lufthansa, however, have already announced not to offer such services. Interestingly enough they argue that their decision was taken in consideration of their customers demand for ease and comfort. Regardless of the question, if a certain timespan “offline” is more of the enjoyable or the annoying kind, the success of in-flight mobile phone use will largely depend on the costs. These could be considerably higher than their “grounded” counterparts (i.e. they are not covered by the roaming regulation). Commissioner Reding comes to the same conclusion when, as stated in the press release, saying that:

“… if consumers receive shock phone bills, the service will not take-off.”

update 10 April 2008: The Commission Decision is published in today’s Official Journal.

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Ofcom spectrum auction: not enough to pay the board

Posted on February 22, 2008 | Filed Under spectrum policy

It’s good to know: people are still worth a lot more than spectrum - at least at Ofcom. The results of Ofcom’s fourth spectrum auction were published today, detailing the licence fees paid for spectrum in frequency bands from 10 GHz to 40 GHz. Compared to the pay of Ofcom’s top officials, these fees are peanuts:

The highest fee, paid by T-Mobile for 2 x 80 MHz in the 10 GHz band, 2 x 252 MHz in the 32 GHz band and 2 x 250 MHz in 40 GHz band, was - in total - £321,000. This is not even one year’s pay for Ed Richards, CEO of Ofcom. In fact, all the licence fees paid at this auction (£1,434,630) wouldn’t be enough to pay the top five people at Ofcom for a full year (remuneration of Ofcom officials taken from the “public sector rich list 2007” of the UK TaxPayers’ Alliance; the list gives the figures for the fiscal year 2006/2007 and thus includes also former officials like Stephen Carter and Kip Meek).

But further auctions are in preparation …

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“So are they all, all honourable men”, squandering the airwaves

Posted on February 12, 2008 | Filed Under spectrum policy

“The squandering of our airwaves is no less important than the lavish waste of any precious natural resource.” Some 47 years ago Newton N. Minow, then the newly appointed Chairman of the FCC, held his famous “Vast Wasteland”-speech, which is still required reading (or listening - both text and mp3 are accessible here)  for anyone having an interest in broadcasting regulation and spectrum policy.

There a very different viewpoints on some of the content of the speech; Wikipedia sums it up nicely in its NPOV-approach here: “While some applauded his ‘vast wasteland’ assault on commercial television as a welcome criticism of excessive violence and frivolity, others criticized it as an elitist, snobbish attack on programming that many viewers enjoyed and as government interference with private enterprise.”  

But the speech certainly is a remarkable piece of rhetoric, and Minow has to be credited with anticipating and promoting technological, spectrum-related developments - terrestrial UHF- and especially satellite broadcasting - that did have a major impact on the the industry. And I am particularly fond of Minow’s introduction to his speech, addressing a meeting of the National Association of Broadcasters with words that seem to echo the words quoted in the title of this post (from the speech of Marcus Antonius, in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar), Minow said: “I want you to know that you have my admiration and my respect. Yours is a most honorable profession.”

But why am I writing about a speech that was held ages ago? Because Newton N. Minow is still active these days, and once again trying to keep the “public airwaves” from beeing squandered - this time by getting some of the proceeds from the spectrum auctions for investments in education. Interviewed by his daughter Mary Minow on her  LibraryLawBlog, he tells about a problem he encountered - a problem that is not specific to the US:

“Newton Minow: We wanted to take part of the money available from public auctions of the airwaves which total over $20 billion, and put it into education.
Mary Minow: But the bill doesn’t mention taking funds from the auctions of airwaves.
Newton Minow: No. Apparently Congress had already spent the money before it was received.”

The project for a “National Center for Learning Science and Technology” is still continuing, but it will have to get the money from somewhere else.

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Objective, transparent, etc.: The Spectrum-Assignment Mantra, ECJ-approved

Posted on January 31, 2008 | Filed Under spectrum policy

It is a well-known mantra: the granting of spectrum usage rights has to be based on objective, transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate criteria. So obviously the assignment of frequencies for broadcasters should not be done in such a way as to create a “situation in which the rights of new entrants are rendered nugatory in the face of the entrenched rights of the incumbents” (as advocate general Poiares Maduro had pointed out in his opinion in the case C-380/05 Centro Europa 7)

Today, the European Court of Justice confirmed this mantra in the judgement delivered in the Centro Europa 7-case (for a brief summary of the case see this post):

Article 49 EC and, from the date on which they became applicable, Article 9(1) of the Framework Directive (2002/21/EC), Article 5(1), the second subparagraph of Article 5(2) and Article 7(3) of the Authorisation Directive (2002/20/EC), and Article 4 of the Competition Directive (2002/77/EC) must be interpreted as precluding, in television broadcasting matters, national legislation the application of which makes it impossible for an operator holding rights to broadcast in the absence of broadcasting radio frequencies granted on the basis of objective, transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate criteria.

The ECJ accepts a licensing system for broadcasters which restricts the number of operators in the national territory, on condition that it is justified by general-interest objectives and that the restrictions are appropriate and do not go beyond what is necessary to attain those objectives. Any such arrangements must also be structured on the basis of objective, transparent, non‑discriminatory and proportionate criteria. These requirements also apply for the granting of individual rights to the use of radio frequencies.

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New Deal, New Morning, New “New Framework”, New Anything

Posted on November 30, 2007 | Filed Under communication technologies, digital content, spectrum policy

Isn’t it good to know that - no matter what happens - there is always the one Good Shepherd Commissioner out there giving us all hope for a new and better tomorrow, or even a better today? We were already promised a New Deal (on spectrum policy) as part of a revised “new framework” (as the current framework used to be called even in 2005 - now the Commission has switched to calling it the “2002 framework” or just the “current framework”, obviously because “new new framework” sounds rather awkward).

And now, thanks to Commissioner Reding, the sun will shine brightly on audiovisual services, as they enter their new morning. So here is an excerpt of yesterday’s press release by the Commission after the European Parliament had voted on the Audiovisual Media Services Directive:

“Today the dawn of Europe’s convergent audiovisual services industry is breaking,” said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media. “With these modernised rules that improve legal certainty and reaffirm the country of establishment principle, Europe’s audiovisual policies will better meet the demands of a fast-moving and dynamic industry while maintaining high consumer protection standards. There will be less regulation, better financing for content and greater visibility to cultural diversity and the protection of minors.“ 

So welcome out of the dark, “convergent audiovisual services” (who are you, anyway?) - and have a nice day with the new rules laid down in the revised “TV Without Frontiers”-Directive. In a few days now the Directive will be in the Official Journal (meanwhile find the text of the Common Position, which was accepted by the Commission and now by the Parliament, here), and then Member States will have two years (until December 2009) to transpose the directive into national law. So it might be a very long dawn for these services, which - if you cling to Reding’s metaphors - would mean that the sun will not rise very high.

As for the new “new framework” for electronic communications, by the way, the Commission has still not managed to put up all translations on the official website or to publish the Markets Recommendation in the Official Journal (although I guess daithí mac sithigh of lexferenda might be pleased to note that the Gaelic versions are available, so I can provide you with the name of the “Superagency” in this offical language of the European Union: “Údarás Eorpach um Mhargadh na Cumarsáide Leictreonaí”).

The Commission presented the proposals to the Telecoms Council yesterday. The press release of the Council notes agreement on the objectives, and doubts as to the Superagency, the Commission’s extended veto and the new deal in spectrum policy. Here is an excerpt of the press release:

Delegations agreed with the objectives of the Commission’s proposals. However several Member States expressed their doubts related in particular to the need for a creation of a new European Agency and to the extension of the Commission’s competence in terms of regulatory conditions or frequency administration.

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“But in conclusion put strange speech upon me”*: Council conclusions on Mobile TV

Posted on November 29, 2007 | Filed Under spectrum policy

Just a quick note from the hot air-department: Today the Transport, Communications and Energy Council meeting in Brussels arrived at conclusions on “Strengthening the Internal Market for Mobile TV”. It is a remarkable document, and if ever you’d like to say “I really couldn’t care less”, but want to make sure it sounds more agreeable, then you should take these conclusions as a reference point.

I am particularly fond of the invitation addressed to the Member States

“to make available adequate spectrum for Mobile TV broadcasting, while taking into account spectrum availability and market demand”

It seems a truly innovative approach to take account of the availability of the goods that should be made available. If there is any message in this document, it could be that the Council is not convinced that declaring DVB-H as a common standard (on Commissioner Reding’s wish-list, see the Commission Communication of 18 July 2007, plus staff working document)  is something that should be done right away (but read more for an update):

Read more

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“Un spectre hante l’Europe”: le spectre radioélectrique

Posted on October 25, 2007 | Filed Under spectrum policy

Sunset Don’t be afraid: this post continues in English, possibly the lingua franca of electronic communications, but at any rate the standard language of this blog (or Blawg). But reading Commissioner Reding’s recent speech on the “digital dividend”, which is partly in French and partly in English, I was tempted to make this allusion - and it works only in French.

[For those who are wondering what this is about: the famous first line of the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx reads: “A spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of Communism,” and though “spectre” here of course means something completely different, in French it is the same word as is used for radio spectrum - see here for the French “Manifesto”].

So radio spectrum, it seems, is indeed haunting Europe: Reding and her staff keep pointing out the economic dimension, for instance by claiming that services that depend on radio spectrum amount for 2.5 % of our Gross National Product. In order to promote the reform of spectrum policy that the Commission is proposing in the revised framework for electronic communications (see here for the text of the draft proposals), nothing less than a New Deal will do - and this is what Reding actually said. In her speech - which at times reads like Molly Bloom’s Soliloquy in James Joyce’s Ulysses (”… yes I said yes I will Yes.”) - she comes to this conclusion:

“Oui je veux le dialogue, oui, je veux un équilibre mais je veux notamment des résultats et je suis convaincue que tous les acteurs de la convergence ont beaucoup à gagner d’un New Deal sur les fréquences.”

[Yes I want dialogue, yes I want an equilibrium, but I especially want results and I am convinced that all actors in convergence have a lot to gain from a new deal on radio spectrum]

I am not quite sure if this “New Deal” will really turn out to be such a big deal (once Council and Parliament had their say). But the Commissioner’s “New Deal” campaign of course evokes Franklin D. Roosevelt’s legendary “New Deal” speech - and FDR said then: “This is more than a political campaign; it is a call to arms.” I’m sure Commissioner Reding sees her “New Deal” in rather similar terms.

PS: In case you wondered about the picture above: a small boat on the open sea. Of course it also refers to Reding’s speech, delivered on the island of Capri at an EPRA-meeting, where she said something like: convergence is the end of islands, and convergence means that we are all in the same boat (”… la convergence, c’est en quelque sorte la fin des îles”; “la convergence – si vous me permettez ce jeu de mot – veut dire que nous sommes tous sur le même bateau.”). I’ll add these lines to my list of at least a thouand definitions of convergence.

PPS: And just in case you might ask about the substance of the speech: read for yourself and please tell me if you find any. I acknowledge that now is the time to try to sell the concepts laid out in the (draft) reform proposals to all stakeholders, and basically that is what the speech was about (nothing that Ruprecht Niepold wouldn’t have said already, but without his remarkably modest statement [see slide 21 of this presentation] that the Commission is “gradually gaining experience”). Nothing new under the sun, which is gradually sinking behind the boat carrying all of us on a sea without islands …

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EC proposes a single EU-wide selection of mss operators

Posted on August 24, 2007 | Filed Under spectrum policy

motorola-iridium-9505.jpgSince its Radio Spectrum Decision from 2002 the European Commission argues for a common, more market-based, approach to spectrum allocation. If common european rules were established certain bands of radio spectrum could be managed more effectively. This week’s EC decision proposal therefore advocates for a single EU-wide selection and authorisation procedure for operators that want to offer EU-wide mobile satellite services, ranging from high-speed internet access to mobile television and portable satellite phones. Until now operators of satellite communications were licensed by national authorities without a coordinated approach to selection and authorisation. System operators therefore must obtain licenses for each member state individually, a situation that leads to a fragmented market of mobile satellite services. The proposed decision introduces a selection of the operators of systems of mobile satellite services at European level. However, a “european FCC” is still not in sight, meaning that operators will still be authorised by each Member State, but subject to a number of harmonised authorisation conditions.

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