COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 27.07.1998 
COM(1998) 496 final 
98/0051 (COD) 
Amended proposal for a 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND COUNCIL DECISION 
ON THE CO-ORDINATED 
INTRODUCTION OF MOBILE AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS (UMTS) IN 
THE COMMUNITY 
(presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 189 a (2) 
of the EC-Treaty) 

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 
The Commission hereby presents an amended proposal for a European Parliament 
and Council Decision on the co-ordinated introduction of mobile and wireless 
communications (UMTS) in the Community. The modified proposal incorporates 
those amendments proposed by the European Parliament in first reading which were 
accepted by the Commission. 
1. Introduction 
1.1 Background 
The Commission adopted its proposal on 11 February 1998, which was formally 
transmitted to the Parliament and the Council on 3 March 1998. 
The Economic and Social Committee gave its opinion on 29 April 1998. The 
European Parliament adopted a favourable opinion in first reading on 18 June 1998, 
and proposed 10 Amendments to the Commission proposal''. 
1.2. Purpose of the Decision: 
This decision aims at facilitating within the existing Community legal framework - such 
as the Licensing Directive - the early co-ordinated licensing of compatible third 
generation mobile communications (UMTS) services in the Community on the basis 
of co-ordinated allocation of frequencies and of common, open and internationally 
competitive standards while ensuring pan-European roaming. 
European Parliament Doc. A4-0221/3 
JL 
2. Position of the Commission relating to the Parliament amendments 
The position of the Commission on the 10 amendments adopted by the European 
Parliament in first reading is summarised in the following table, taking into 
consideration the fact that Amendment 2 of the Report by Mr. Camison Asensio has 
been incorporated in amendment 3. 
Situation Number Total 
Amendments acceptable 1,3,5,8,9,11 6 
Amendments acceptable in part / 7 (in principle) 2 
in principle 
6 (in part) 
Amendments not acceptable 4,10 2 
2.1. Amendments accepted by the Commission: 
• Amendment 1 to recital 10: change the terms "UMTS service providers" into 
"organisations providing UMTS networks". This is in line with the need to put the 
focus on network operators rather than on service providers. Recital 10 is also 
modified to call on national authorities not to impose excessive fees to UMTS 
service providers for entry into the market. As a matter of principle, the 
Commission supports the elimination of excessive fees as already expressed in 
article 6 of the Licensing Directive 97/13/EC. 
• Amendment 3 to recital 16 changes the timing from "2005" to "within a number 
of years" by which time additional frequency spectrum is likely to become 
necessary. Since the original date of 2005 was indicative, the Commission may 
accept some flexibility. Amendment 2 of the Report to recital 16 has been 
incorporated in amendment 3; amendment 2 calls for freeing and refarming of 
the 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz bands to be done with a view to ensure non 
discrimination. This amendment makes clear that non-discrimination applies to 
the result of the refarming and freeing exercise and not to the refarming and 
freeing itself. 
• Amendment 5 modifies article 2 and makes clear that the list in annex I 
includes the minimum capabilities which the UV.TS system shall be capable of 
supporting. The Commission agrees that the purpose of Annex I is to provide for 
a list of minimum capabilities the system should be able to support. There is no 
obligation for each operator to effectively offer the services corresponding to 
such capabilities. 
• Amendment 8 to article 9(2) deletes the words "make proposals to take all 
necessary actions to", so that the Commission will be directly entitled to seek 
effective implementation of international agreements applicable to UMTS, The 
words "make proposals to take all necessary actions to" are not necessary given 
that art. 9 par.1 already allows the Commission to take all measures necessary 
to facilitate the introduction of UMTS services and the free circulation of UMTS 
equipment in third countries. 
Amendment 9 to annex I, 1st section, par.1 redrafts title to make clear that 
annex I refers to "system capabilities needed to accommodate service features". 
The new wording is also more precise as to the levels of application mobility: "full 
mobility and low mobility applications in different geographical environments 
beyond the capability of the second generation systems such as GSM". This 
makes clear that UMTS will be a complete technological change compared to 
GSM-type second generation. 
Amendment 11 on annex I, 3d section, "core network" takes into 
consideration call handling, service control and location and mobility 
management, in line with comments received in particular from industry. The last 
part of the sentence stresses the need to take into account the convergence 
. between fixed and mobile networks. 
2.2 Amendments not accepted by the Commission 
• Amendment 4 modifies Recital 22 in order to include coverage of less 
populated areas in the scope of roaming agreements that organisations providing 
UMTS networks should have rights and obligations to negotiate in view of 
ensuring Community-wide roaming. Since less populated areas are already 
covered in recital 19 on national roaming, the Commission believes that it is out 
of context in recital 22 which addresses cross-border roaming. . 
« Amendment 10 to Annex I point 5 replaces "full roaming between GSM" with 
"full roaming with ail GSM services". The exact wording of the proposal, as 
published in the OJ, is'"full roaming with GSM" and not "between GSM". This part 
of the amendment is therefore not necessary. Furthermore, the words "all" and 
"services" are not acceptable: Commission does not want to impose roaming with 
all possible GSM services; the purpose of the requirement is to create the 
possibility for roaming with GSM as far as needed pursuant to market demand. 
As to the refusal of the word "services" by the Commission, the purpose of this 
paragraph is to allow roaming between networks and not between services. 
2.3. Amendments partly accepted by the Commission 
« Amendment 8 adds in article 3(3) a reference to Community law and in 
particular to the principles of non-discrimination and transparency. Commission 
believes that this amendment is superfluous as Community lav/ applies anyway 
and as there is no need to repeat that the principles of non-discrimination and 
transparency are part of Community law. Moreover, the proposed wording is not 
best positioned in 3.3 as article 3.3 purpose is to make annex I applicable to 
national licensing procedures. Therefore, although the Commission is ready to 
accept the addition of the wordc "in compliance with the Community legislation in 
force" as proposed in amendment 6, it rejects the addition of a specific reference 
to the principles of non-discrimination and transparency. The Commission also 
proposer to move the words "in compliance with the Community législation in 
force" to the beginning of article 3.2. after "shall ensure". 
U 
• Amendment 7 to article 3(4) makes clear that the justification for limiting the 
number of UMTS services authorisations in case of incompatibility of potential 
systems is the lack of frequency spectrum. Commission agrees in substance with 
the addition of the words "for reasons of frequency spectrum efficiency" which 
reflects the idea which is behind article 3.4 and is in conformity with article 10 of 
the Licensing Directive. Recital 11 of the proposal also makes clear that pursuant 
to the licensing directive and Commission Directive 96/2/EC the number of UMTS 
licenses may only be limited for reasons of demonstrated lack of frequency 
spectrum capacity. Commission therefore also proposes to add the words "in 
accordance with existing Community law", considering that the term efficient use 
of frequency spectrum needs to be interpreted in the light of existing Community 
law. 
Conclusion 
The Commission has accepted 8 out of the 10 amendments proposed by the 
European Parliament in First reading either in whole or in part. 
In accordance with Article 189 A paragraph 2 of the EC Treaty, the Commission 
amends its initial proposal, so as to incorporate these amendments. 
S~ 
Initial Proposal Amended Proposal 
Proposal by the Commission 
for a Decision of the European Parliament and of 
the Council on the 
co-ordinated introduction of mobile and wireless 
communications (UMTS) in the Community 
Recital 10. Whereas UMTS service providers should 
be able to enter the market without unnecessary 
constraints to allow for a dynamic market and a 
broad competitive service offering; whereas where an 
authorisation procedure is considered necessary, 
general authorisations or declarations should be the 
rule; 
Recital 16. Whereas this ERC decision has 
designated the frequency bands 1900-1980 MHz, 
2010-2025 MHz and 2110-2170 MHz to terrestrial 
UMTS applications, and accommodates UMTS 
satellite component applications within the bands 
1980-2010 MHz and 2170-2200 MHz, whereas it 
already appears that additional frequency spectrum 
capacity will be necessary to meet the demand in the 
Community and to ensure introduction of UMTS in 
Europe even before 1 January 2002, whereas 
sufficient spectrum must be allocated within the 
bands identified by WARC 92 according to the 
increasing needs therefor before UMTS services are 
commercially deployed; Whereas additional 
frequency spectrum may become necessary by 2005 
and therefore the 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz bands 
would also need to be freed or refarmed as far as 
possible; 
Article 2 
Definition 
For the purpose of this Decision, Universal Mobile 
Telecommunications System (UMTS) shall mean a 
third generation mobile communications system 
capabie of providing in particular innovative wireless 
multimedia services, beyond the capability of current 
second generation systems such as GSM, and 
combining the use of terrestrial and satellite 
components. It shall include the characteristics Proposal by the Commission 
for a Decision of the European Parliament and of 
the Council on the 
co-ordinated introduction of mobile and wireless 
communications (UMTS) in the Community 
(Amendment 1) 
Recital 10. Whereas organisations providing UMTS 
networks should be able to enter the market without 
unnecessary constraints or excessive fees to allow 
for a dynamic market and a broad competitive 
service offering; whereas where an authorisation 
procedure is considered necessary, general 
authorisations or declarations should be the rule; 
(Amendment 3) 
Recital 16. Whereas this ERC decision has 
designated the frequency bands 1900-1980 MHz, 
2010-2025 MHz and 2110-2170 MHz to terrestrial 
UMTS applications, and accommodates UMTS 
satellite component applications within the bands 
1980-2010 MHz and 2170-2200 MHz; whereas it 
already appears that additional frequency spectrum 
capacity will be necessary to meet the demand in the 
Community and to ensure introduction of UMTS in 
Europe even before 1 January 2002; whereas 
sufficient spectrum must be allocated within the 
bands identified by WARC 92 according to the 
increasing needs therefor before UMTS services are 
commercially deployed, Whereas additional 
frequency spectrum may become necessary within a 
few years and therefore the 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz 
bands would also need to be freed or refarmed as far 
as possible with a view to ensuring non 
discrimination; 
(Amendment 5) 
Article 2 
Definition 
For the purpose of this Decision, Universal Mobile 
Telecommunications System (UMTS) shall mean a 
third generation mobile communications system 
capable of providing in particular innovative wireless 
multimedia services, beyond the capability of current 
second generation systems such as GSM, and 
combining the use of terrestrial and satellite 
components. This system shall at least be capable of 
supporting the characteristics referred to under 
C 
referred to under Annex 
Article 3 
Co-ordinated authorisation 
2. When preparing and applying their authorisation 
systems Member States shall ensure 
- that the provision of UMTS services is organised in 
frequency bands which are harmonised by CEPT in 
accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 5, 
- and pursuant to European standards developed by 
ETSI where available, including in particular a 
common, open and internationally competitive air-
interface standard. Member States shall ensure that 
licenses support roaming throughout the Community. 
Article 3 
4. In the case of incompatibility of potential systems 
and if it is established in accordance with the 
procedure laid down in Article 17 of Directive 
97/13/EC and in conjunction with CEPT that it is 
necessary to limit the number of UMTS services 
authorisations, Member States shall co-ordinate their 
authorisation procedures with a view to authorising 
compatible UMTS services in the Community. Annex I. 
Article 9 
International Aspects 
2. For this purpose, the Commission shall make 
proposals to take all necessary actions to seek the 
effective implementation of international agreements 
applicable to UMTS, and shall, in particular and 
where necessary, submit proposals to the Council 
for appropriate mandates for the negotiation of 
bilateral and multilateral agreements with third 
countries and international organisations. The (Amendment 6) 
Article 3 
Co-ordinated authorisation 
2. When preparing and applying their authorisation 
systems Member States shall ensure, in compliance 
with the Community legislation in force, 
- that the provision of UMTS services is organised in 
frequency bands which are harmonised by CEPT in 
accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 5, 
- and pursuant to European standards developed by 
ETSI where available, including in particular a 
common, open and internationally competitive air-
interface standard. Member States shall ensure that 
licenses support roaming throughout the Community. 
(Amendment 7) 
Article 3 
4. In the case of incompatibility of potential systems 
and if it is established in accordance with the 
procedure laid down in Article 17 of Directive 
97/13/EC and in conjunction with CEPT that it is 
necessary to limit the number of UMTS services 
authorisations for reasons of frequency spectrum 
efficiency in accordance with existing Community 
law, Member States shall co-ordinate their 
authorisation procedures with a view to authorising 
compatible UMTS services in the Community. 
(Amendment 8) 
Article 9 
International Aspects 
2. For this purpose, the Commission shall seek the 
effective implementation of international agreements 
applicable to UMTS, and shall, in particular and 
where necessary, submit proposals to the Council 
for appropriate mandates for the negotiation of 
bilateral and multilateral agreements with third 
countries and international organisations. The 
1-
Council shall decide by qualified majority. I Council shall decide by qualified majority. 
(Amendment 9) 
ANNEX I ANNEX I 
Characteristics of UMTS Characteristics of UMTS 
Services System capabilities needed to accommodate service 
features 
1. Multimedia capability with wide area 
mobility 1. Multimedia capability; full mobility and low 
mobility applications in different geographical 
environments beyond the capability of the 
second generation systems such as GSM. 
(Amendment 11) 
Core network Core network 
• Evolution from GSM system family; call • Call handling, service control and 
control mobility management including location and mobility management 
full roaming functionality based on core including full roaming functionality based 
GSM network standard on an evolution of existing core network 
systems, for example on an evolved 
• Mobile/fixed convergence elements GSM core network , taking the 
convergence between fixed and mobile 
networks into account. 
• P 
ISSN 0254-1475 
COM(98) 496 final 
DOCUMENTS 
EN 16 15 10 01 
Catalogue number : CB-CO-98-496-EN-C 
ISBN 92-78-38650-2 
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