Changes to European Decision Making Considered as Telecom Regulators Spur Policy Work

CEPT did decide to join the leaders of three senior groups into a new leadership role. Ewers, who works for Germany’s Federal Network Agency, will join Ulrich Dammann, chairman of the group responsible for postal regulation, and Anders Jonsson, chairman of the group responsible for engaging with the ITU, to form a joint presidency.

One European regulator said the organization could have a much bigger role in developing European policy. Standards making, setting equipment specifications and creating regulation move too slowly, are too confusing and difficult to navigate for newcomers, said Chris van Diepenbeek with the Dutch Radio Communications Agency, referring to ITU, European and a variety of other bodies. A lot more streamlining is needed, van Diepenbeek said of announced changes and recommendations by the EC Radio Spectrum Policy Group.

Europe’s regulatory organization is too fragmented, van Diepenbeek said. The complex situation leads to inefficiencies, van Diepenbeek said citing a lack of communication, the tendency toward double regulation, the inability to resolve problems in one group and confusion over who decides what. The CEPT Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) should take the lead in demystifying the regulatory environment, van Diepenbeek said. Better coordination is needed between the group and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ESTI), he said. The work of ETSI was spun out of CEPT years ago, a participant said, and the idea floated is to fold it back in.

Some recent EC mandates were communicated to the European standards institute without informing CEPT participants, van Diepenbeek said. Also, Radio Spectrum Committee decisions should follow ECC decisions, van Diepenbeek said, and the content of the decision should be “identical.” The ECC has to give consistency to the market, he said, and some decisions have little support from administrations.

Countries should treat ECC decisions the same as ETSI harmonized standards, van Diepenbeek said. However, the group’s decisions aren’t mandatory, a participant said. Van Diepenbeek’s proposal is to then combine ECC decisions with the relevant harmonized standards, then later reference them in the European journal of rules, the participant said.

Van Diepenbeek suggested that CEPT and the ECC voting process could also be changed. Each country gets one vote, he said, but the system could change so that voting leverage would be tied to the level of financial support that country gives to the organization. ETSI already has the practice, he said, though the ITU maintains the one vote per country approach. -- Scott Billquist

CEPT Notebook…

Spectrum trades got off to a slow start in some countries, but are picking up steam, said Janette Dobson, an analyst with Analysis Mason in the U.K. Direct sales or leases are the most common form of spectrum trades in Australia, Dobson said at a semi-annual conference of European Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT). Seventy-five trades were done in the 500 MHz band over the last 10 years, she said, 38 in the 800 MHz band, 95 in the 1.8 GHz band, 10 in the 2 GHz band, 91 in the 2.3 GHz band, 86 in the 3.4 GHz band, one in the 28 GHz band and one in the 31 GHz band. The U.K. is progressively rolling out trading to different license classes, she said. Only one business radio license was traded in 2005 but 154 have been traded this year, she said. The number of fixed link license trades rose from two to 27 since 2005, she said. Fixed wireless access and other license trades accounted for eight more of the 189 licenses traded this year, she said. More flexible usage conditions may further boost the scope for trading, she said. Spectrum trading in Europe will likely increase, she said, since trading is just one way of meeting spectrum demands. Complexity at the border and coordination may become more complex, she said, and the need for guard bands could increase.