New EU telecoms rules

New telecom rules came into force in the European Union on Saturday December 19.

With regard to spectrum the EU announcement says:

"On the spectrum side, it is now up to the Member States to adapt their allocation and licensing systems to the new rules, to provide greater flexibility for spectrum users.

"The Commission will prepare a proposal for the first radio spectrum policy programme, an innovation of the reform package, and the creation of a strategic framework to develop a coherent EU spectrum policy. Today, a Commission Decision has also been published modifying the Radio Spectrum Policy Group to fully enable its advisory role on the preparation of these draft spectrum programmes for the Commission."

Among the key reforms of the new EU telecoms package are:
"A new European Telecoms Authority - Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) - that will help ensure fair competition and more consistency of regulation on the telecoms markets"

"Encouraging competition and investment in next generation access networks: The new rules bring legal certainty for investment in next generation access (NGA) networks. These networks, based on new optical fibre and wireless network technologies, are replacing less efficient traditional copper-wire networks and will allow high-speed internet connections."

The other key reforms can be seen at
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=
MEMO/09/568&format=HTML&aged=0&language=
EN&guiLanguage=en

EU Press Release
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=
IP/09/1966&format=HTML&aged=0&language=
EN&guiLanguage=en

EU Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG)
http://rspg.groups.eu.int/