CELEX: 31990H0543
Language: en
Date: 1990-10-09 00:00:00
Title: 90/543/EEC: Council Recommendation of 9 October 1990 on the coordinated introduction of pan-European land-based public radio paging in the Community

Avis juridique important

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31990H0543

90/543/EEC: Council Recommendation of 9 October 1990 on the coordinated introduction of pan-European land-based public radio paging in the Community  

Official Journal L 310 , 09/11/1990 P. 0023 - 0027

COUNCIL  RECOMMENDATION   of 9 October 1990   on the coordinated introduction of Pan-European land-based  public radio paging in the Community   (90/543/EEC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES,  Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular  Article 235 thereof,  Having regard to the proposal from the Commission  (1),  Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament  (2),  Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee  (3),  Whereas, by Recommendation 84/549/EEC  (4), the Council calls for the introduction of services on  the basis of a common harmonized approach in the field of telecommunications;  Whereas the resources offered by modern telecommunications networks should be utilized to the full  for the economic development of the Community;  Whereas paging services are a particularly efficient communications method for alerting and/or  sending messages to people on the move;  Whereas the land-based public paging systems currently in use in the Community do not in general  allow people on the move throughout the Community to reap the benefits of European-wide paging  services and European-wide markets;  Whereas the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) has instructed the technical  Committee (PS) to specify all system aspects of a more advanced public radio paging system code  named European Radio Messaging System (ERMES);  Whereas the introduction of ERMES being specified by ETSI will provide a unique opportunity of  establishing a truly pan-European paging service;  Whereas a coordinated policy for the introduction of a pan-European land-based public radio paging  service will make it possible to establish a European market in mobile terminals (paging receivers)  which will be capable of creating, by virtue of its size, service features and costs, the necessary  development conditions to enable undertakings to maintain and improve their presence in world  markets;  Whereas it is essential to ensure extensive use of frequency agile type receivers;  Whereas it is necessary to allow unrestricted access to radio paging services and free circulation  of paging receivers throughout the Community;  Whereas in this context Community law and in particular the competition rules should be  respected;  Whereas the implementation of Council Directive 86/361/EEC of 24 July 1986 on the initial stage of  the mutual recognition of type approval for telecommunications terminal equipment  (5) will make an  important contribution towards this goal;  Whereas consideration should be given to Council Directive 83/189/EEC of 28 March 1983 laying down  a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations   (1) and to Council Decision 87/95/EEC of 22 December 1986 on standardization in the field of  information technology and telecommunications (2);  Whereas it is appropriate to make use of the potential of the Community's financial instruments in  order to promote the development of the telecommunications infrastructure in the Community;  Whereas consideration should be given to Council Recommendation 87/371/EEC of 25 June 1987 on the  coordinated introduction of public pan-European cellular digital land-based mobile communications  in the Community  (3) which points out that special attention should be paid to the urgent  requirement of certain users for pan-European land-based communications and that the Commission  will in the future submit other proposals in the field of mobile communications, including radio  paging systems;  Whereas the public telecommunications administrations, the recognized private operating agencies  and other authorized agencies offering public mobile telecommunications services are hereinafter  referred to as 'telecommunications administrations`;  Whereas a favourable opinion has been delivered by the Senior Officials Group on  Telecommunications (SOG-T), on the basis of the detailed report drawn up by the Analysis and  Forecasting Group (GAP) which provides a strategic basis for the development of public mobile  communications in the Community with a view to enabling European users on the move to communicate  efficiently and economically;  Whereas favourable opinions on this report have been delivered by the telecommunications  administrations, by the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT)  and by telecommunications equipment manufacturers in the Member States;  Whereas the envisaged measures will allow the economic benefit and rapidly increasing market  potential of public radio paging to be fully realized in the Community;  Whereas the Treaty does not provide, for the action concerned, powers other than those of Article  235,  HEREBY RECOMMENDS: 1.  that the telecommunications administrations implement  with due respect for Community law the detailed recommendations as described in the Annex  concerning the coordinated introduction of pan-European land-based public radio paging in the  Community. For the purposes of this Recommendation, 'pan-European land-based public radio paging  service` shall mean a public radio paging service based on a terrestrial infrastructure in the  Member States in accordance with a common specification which allows persons wishing to do so to  send and/or to receive alert and/or numeric or alphanumeric messages anywhere within the coverage  of the service in the Community;  2.  that the telecommunications administrations continue the cooperation within the CEPT and, with  the collaboration of manufacturers and users, within ETSI, particularly concerning the objectives  and time schedule set out in the Annex for the completion of the specifications and service  implementation of the pan-European land-based public radio paging system;  3.  that the telecommunications administrations plan for a gradual evolution from existing radio  paging systems to the pan-European land-based public radio paging system so as to ensure a  transition which meets the needs of users, telecommunications administrations and manufacturers;  4.  that Member State Governments and telecommunications administrations complete the technical  arrangements for the implementation of the means of call routing and processing, so that tone  and/or numeric or alphanumeric messages can be sent from anywhere in the Community to a radio  paging receiver anywhere in the geographical coverage of the Ermes service by 31 December 1992 at  the latest;  5.  that the Commission take appropriate initiatives, within the framework of application of  existing Directives, to encourage the completion of the specifications and the implementation of  the pan-European land-based public radio paging system, within the time schedule set out in the  Annex;  6.  that the Community's financial instruments take this Recommendation into account within the  framework of their interventions, particularly as regards capital investments required for the  implementation of the infrastructure for the pan-European land-based public radio paging system;  7.  that the telecommunications administrations prepare and sign by July 1990 at the latest a  memorandum of understanding on the implementation of pan-European land-based public radio paging;  8.  that Member State Governments inform the Commission at the end of each year, from the end of  1990 onwards, of the measures taken and problems encountered in the course of implementing this  Recommendation. The progress of work will be examined by the Commission and the Senior Officials  Group on Telecommunications (SOG-T); that the European Parliament be regularly informed.  Done at Luxembourg, 9 October 1990. For the Council   The President   P. ROMITA  ANNEX ANALYSIS OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COORDINATED INTRODUCTION OF PAN-EUROPEAN  LAND-BASED PUBLIC PAGING IN THE COMMUNITY   1.  GENERAL REQUIREMENTS   The future pan-European public radio paging system should fulfil the following general  requirements:  -  be suitable for operation over the whole frequency band range 169,4 MHz to 169,8 MHz with 25  KHz radio channels;  -  permit an increase in the number of paging users which can be supported per paging area per  unit of spectrum and for the same grade of service compared to systems based on CCIR Radio Paging  Code No 1 (Pocsag), assuming the same mix of tone, numeric and alphanumeric pagers;  -  permit easy access via PSTN, PSS, Videotex terminals, telex and other forms of direct access  such as via ISDN;  -  permit simultaneous operation of two or more independent systems in the same geographic area  and permit several independent systems in areas where several national boundaries meet.  Access facilities should be provided for a calling party to initiate a paging request from service  areas anywhere in the Community in the most cost effective and easy manner.  2.  CHOICE OF RADIO SUBSYSTEM   Considerable experience in designing, manufacturing and operating public radio paging systems  already exists in Europe. Much of this experience derives from the successful development and  exploitation of the European Pocsag paging code (now CCIR Radio Paging Code No 1) by manufacturers  and telecommunications administrations. This accumulated experience and knowledge should speed the  task of selecting a suitable radio subsystem for the pan-European paging system. On the basis of  the work underway within ETSI, the system specification should be decided by June 1990. The radio  subsystem specification covers the modulation method, channel coding, the radio system structure  and the pager's radio identity code structure (RIC).  3.  THE PAGING RECEIVER SPECIFICATION   The specification of the paging receiver will cover the radio-performance, services and facilities  and physical characteristics. The receiver specification should be finalized by June 1990. However,  the optimization and commencement of production of prototype paging receivers should begin if  possible as soon as the decision is taken on the radio subsystem in September 1989. This will  provide a lead time for the testing and production of equipment before the start of service in  December 1992 at the latest. This early start to development should be ensured by the close  cooperation of manufacturing industry in the system specification in particular with ETSI.  4.  SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION   Telecommunication administrations should be responsible for the implementation of the radio paging  system in their countries. The largest proportion of traffic on each national system will be  national traffic, but implementation should support full roaming. Furthermore, the system  specification should allow flexibility to enable economic implementation both in areas of low  traffic density and areas of very high traffic density. To enable the service to commence by 31  December 1992 at the latest, the system specification should be completed by June 1990.  The system specification should include system access, call routing and processing, numbering  scheme, and specification of paging network controller.  5.  SERVICES AND FACILITIES SPECIFIED AND SUPPORTED BY THE PAN-EUROPEAN RADIO PAGING SYSTEM   The services and facilities specification should be completely specified by December 1989, and  should fall into two categories: minimum and additional.  Minimum services and facilities   Minimum services and facilities are those which should be available on each national system and  hence the pan-European system as a whole.  Additional services and facilities   The additional services are those which should be provided in open competition allowing for the  national conditions for implementing such services. The non-provision of an additional service or  facility should not affect in any way the functioning of the pan-European service at a basic level.  The provision of an additional service or facility on one national system should not increase the  cost of the minimum service on that system, or require an increase in functionality or an increase  in cost on any other national system.  6.  TARIFF CONSIDERATIONS   The principles of charging for the European service should be established taking full account of  the competition rules of the Treaty for the European service, of cross charging between national  operators for the handling of roaming traffic and of network technicalities. Administrations should  endeavour to ensure that the user cost of the future radio paging service is not higher than that  of current services of the same type.  7.  GEOGRAPHICAL SERVICE COVERAGE   Administrations should study priorities for service coverage in order to stimulate the maximum  pan-European traffic demand at the earliest possible stage compatible with commercial strategies.  The pan-European public radio paging system should be introduced by 31 December 1992 at the  latest. The objective is geographical coverage by the service offered in each Member State, which  should progressively extend as follows:  -  31 December 1992: start of service,  -  January 1994: at least 25  % of population,  -  January 1995: at least 50  % of population,  -  January 1997: at least 80  % of population.  8.  SPECIAL REQUIREMENT   Consideration should be given to providing within the Ermes system the ability to have displayed,  on the radio paging receiver, characters in all official Community languages, wherever possible.