CELEX: 51998PC0496
Language: en
Date: 1998-07-27
Title: Amended proposal for a European Parliament and Council Decision on the co-ordinated introduction of mobile and wireless communications (UMTS) in the Community

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 ( U M T S ) IN
                            THE COMMUNITY
        (presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 189 a (2)
                            of the EC-Treaty)
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                           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
 ---pagebreak--- 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
 ---pagebreak---    to facilitate the introduction of UMTS services and the free circulation of UMTS
   equipment in third countries.
   Amendment 9 to annex I, 1 s t 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
 ---pagebreak--- • 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~
 ---pagebreak---                              Initial Proposal                                                       Amended Proposal
               Proposal by t h e C o m m i s s i o n                                         P r o p o s a l by the C o m m i s s i o n
for a Decision of the E u r o p e a n Parliament and of                  for a D e c i s i o n of t h e European Parliament and of
                         the Council on the                                                           the C o u n c i l on the
 co-ordinated i n t r o d u c t i o n of m o b i l e and w i r e l e s s  c o - o r d i n a t e d i n t r o d u c t i o n of m o b i l e and wireless
     c o m m u n i c a t i o n s (UMTS) in the C o m m u n i t y               c o m m u n i c a t i o n s (UMTS) in the C o m m u n i t y
                                                                                                          ( A m e n d m e n t 1)
Recital 10. Whereas UMTS service providers should                        Recital 10. Whereas organisations providing UMTS
be able to enter the market without unnecessary                          networks should be able to enter the market without
constraints to allow for a dynamic market and a                          unnecessary constraints or excessive fees to allow
broad competitive service offering; whereas where an                     for a dynamic market and a broad competitive
authorisation procedure is considered necessary,                         service offering; whereas where an authorisation
general authorisations or declarations should be the                     procedure is considered necessary, general
rule;                                                                    authorisations or declarations should be the rule;
                                                                                                          ( A m e n d m e n t 3)
 Recital 16. Whereas this ERC decision has                                Recital 16. Whereas this ERC decision has
 designated the frequency bands 1900-1980 MHz,                            designated the frequency bands 1900-1980 MHz,
 2010-2025 MHz and 2110-2170 MHz to terrestrial                           2010-2025 MHz and 2110-2170 MHz to terrestrial
 UMTS applications, and accommodates UMTS                                 UMTS applications, and accommodates UMTS
 satellite component applications within the bands                        satellite component applications within the bands
 1980-2010 MHz and 2170-2200 MHz, whereas it                              1980-2010 MHz and 2170-2200 MHz; whereas it
 already appears that additional frequency spectrum                       already appears that additional frequency spectrum
 capacity will be necessary to meet the demand in the                     capacity will be necessary to meet the demand in the
 Community and to ensure introduction of UMTS in                          Community and to ensure introduction of UMTS in
 Europe even before 1 January 2002, whereas                               Europe even before 1 January 2002; whereas
 sufficient spectrum must be allocated within the                         sufficient spectrum must be allocated within the
 bands identified by WARC 92 according to the                             bands identified by WARC 92 according to the
 increasing needs therefor before UMTS services are                       increasing needs therefor before UMTS services are
 commercially deployed; Whereas additional                                commercially deployed, Whereas additional
 frequency spectrum may become necessary by 2005                          frequency spectrum may become necessary within a
  and therefore the 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz bands                          few years and therefore the 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz
  would also need to be freed or refarmed as far as                       bands would also need to be freed or refarmed as far
  possible;                                                                as possible with a view to ensuring non
                                                                           discrimination;
                                                                                                            ( A m e n d m e n t 5)
                                                                                                                  Article 2
                                    Article 2
                                                                                                                 Definition
                                   Definition
                                                                           For the purpose of this Decision, Universal Mobile
   For the purpose of this Decision, Universal Mobile                      Telecommunications System (UMTS) shall mean a
   Telecommunications System (UMTS) shall mean a                           third generation mobile communications system
   third generation mobile communications system                            capable of providing in particular innovative wireless
   capabie of providing in particular innovative wireless                   multimedia services, beyond the capability of current
   multimedia services, beyond the capability of current                    second generation systems such as GSM, and
    second generation systems such as GSM, and                              combining the use of terrestrial and satellite
    combining the use of terrestrial and satellite                          components. This system shall at least be capable of
    components. It shall include the characteristics                        supporting the characteristics referred to under
                                                                        C
 ---pagebreak--- referred to under Annex                                 Annex I.
                                                                             (Amendment 6)
                           Article 3                                             Article 3
                 Co-ordinated authorisation                             Co-ordinated authorisation
2. When preparing and applying their authorisation      2. When preparing and applying their authorisation
systems Member States shall ensure                      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         - that the provision of UMTS services is organised in
accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 5,   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         - and pursuant to European standards developed by
common, open and internationally competitive air-       ETSI where available, including in particular a
interface standard. Member States shall ensure that     common, open and internationally competitive air-
licenses support roaming throughout the Community.      interface standard. Member States shall ensure that
                                                        licenses support roaming throughout the Community.
                                                                             (Amendment 7)
                                                                                 Article 3
                           Article 3
                                                        4. In the case of incompatibility of potential systems
 4. In the case of incompatibility of potential systems and if it is established in accordance with the
 and if it is established in accordance with the        procedure laid down in Article 17 of Directive
 procedure laid down in Article 17 of Directive         97/13/EC and in conjunction with CEPT that it is
 97/13/EC and in conjunction with CEPT that it is       necessary to limit the number of UMTS services
 necessary to limit the number of UMTS services         authorisations for reasons of frequency spectrum
 authorisations, Member States shall co-ordinate their  efficiency in accordance with existing Community
 authorisation procedures with a view to authorising    law, Member States shall co-ordinate their
 compatible UMTS services in the Community.             authorisation procedures with a view to authorising
                                                        compatible UMTS services in the Community.
                                                                              (Amendment 8)
                            Article 9
                                                                                  Article 9
                     International Aspects
                                                                           International Aspects
 2. For this purpose, the Commission shall make
 proposals to take all necessary actions to seek the     2. For this purpose, the Commission shall seek the
 effective implementation of international agreements    effective implementation of international agreements
 applicable to UMTS, and shall, in particular and        applicable to UMTS, and shall, in particular and
 where necessary, submit proposals to the Council        where necessary, submit proposals to the Council
 for appropriate mandates for the negotiation of         for appropriate mandates for the negotiation of
 bilateral and multilateral agreements with third        bilateral and multilateral agreements with third
 countries and international organisations. The           countries and international organisations. The
                                                       1-
 ---pagebreak--- 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
 ---pagebreak---                                                                   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
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities
L-2985 Luxembourg
                                               Q