Commission tunes in to spectrum trade

By Anna McLauchlin

Date: 22/09/05

Europe's broadcasters and telecom operators will eventually be able to buy and sell radio bandwidth if member states back new recommendations to be published by the European Commission next week (29 September).

As part of a strategy on the management of broadcasting airwaves - known as spectrum - the Commission will advocate the creation of an EU-wide market where companies will be able to resell bandwidth.

In a series of communications, it will assess the current situation, identify how it could move forward with a more market-oriented approach for bandwidth and issue a paper specifically looking at how the broadcasting industry would benefit.

Studies have shown that creating a European market could give a huge boost to the telecom sector, not least because they could raise capital by selling off '3G' spectrum that they bought for billions of euro a few years ago.

It would also give new television companies or providers of alternative services such as wireless internet (WIFI) the chance to enter the market.

But spectrum is currently licensed on a national basis and governments may be unwilling to lose control, a Commission spokesman warned.

"The Commission is in favour of a market-oriented approach as economically it is the right solution, but it shouldn't be underestimated to what point this is currently a national issue," he said. "We will adopt a step-by-step approach where industry works with member states to reach an acceptable solution."

Public radio and television services are likely to oppose any market-based move, as they would take a financial hit if they suddenly had to pay for their airwaves. The spokesman said that one solution would be to include only commercial radio and television activity in any future legislation.

An EU-wide market is also unlikely to work in sensitive areas such as radio waves used for military communication, meteorological data or the police, he said.

Work will also have to be done on how interference will be avoided in a pan- EU situation. Member states already discuss how spectrum should be managed through a Radio Spectrum Policy Group, for example when harmonising the spectrum that cars now need to deploy their anti-crash radar.

But next week's strategy will try to anticipate a future where spectrum is no longer a scarce commodity. That is because the official switch-off of analogue television planned for 2012 and the increased digitisation of services will see huge amounts of spectrum become available.

The UK presidency supports the Commission's market approach and has already met Media Commissioner Viviane Reding to discuss how to take the communications forward.

Article anticipates a series of communications, to be published by the European Commission on 29 September 2005 on the management of broadcasting airwaves. While the spectrum was currently licensed on a national basis the Commission was advocating the creation of an EU-wide market where companies would be able to resell bandwidth.