Catherine Trautmann, in charge of the Telecom Package, managed to get a compromise text which will be presented to the European Parliament (23-26 November) for final adoption later on by the EU Council of Ministers. The compromise text solves the remaining dispute which was blocking the adoption of the package. It relates to Internet piracy. The new text tries to guarantee that measures to restrict Internet access will only be imposed ‘if they are appropriate, proportionate and necessary within a democratic society’.
What will change for broadcasters?
Once the Telecom Package is adopted and the new directives are in operation, we may expect the EC to increase the pressure on harmonisation of the radio-spectrum across the EU. The EC will not have the mandate to impose anything, as it is a co-decision process between the Parliament and the Council to take the final decisions. However, we expect to see a growing interest from the EC to liberate spectrum, in a harmonised manner, to new and innovative applications under the technology and service neutrality rules.
In other words, broadcasters will be pressed to ensure an efficient spectrum usage; it will be difficult to retain spectrum for future expansion or evolution of broadcasting services and spectrum needs will have to be very carefully justified. As a consequence of maximising the (economic) efficiency of the spectrum, broadcasting services will have to further share the spectrum with other services and thus must deal with interference issues, which will become more common. Another side-effect of the harmonisation is that Member States will have more and more difficulties to maintain their national requirements on the use of spectrum. They will have to harmonise, giving up some of their national particularities.
The Digital Dividend example
One of the most obvious examples of what will change for broadcasters with the new directives is the Digital Dividend. The Telecom Package sets the ground for the Commission to take similar actions in the future. As is well known, the release of the 790-862 MHz is only the start of the Digital Dividend discussions. The 72 MHz liberated from broadcasting services to provide wireless broadband services are not enough to provide the speeds users want for new innovative applications (mainly media applications) which require large capacities to deliver a good quality service. Further release of spectrum might be requested from broadcasters. The new Directives confirm the philosophy of using a more flexible management of the spectrum to make it easier for operators to introduce innovative technologies and services which promise to boost the European economy. Independently of their social value!
The Commission will define a 'multi-annual radio spectrum policy programme', for proposal to the Council and the European Parliament in 2010. The content will be discussed during a ’Spectrum summit’ in January, with the participation of MEPs, Ministers and the Commission, as well as industry representatives and other important stakeholders. The final goal of the EC is to end up with a roadmap on the use of the frequency bands within the EU.