CELEX: 51987PC0035(01)
Language: en
Date: 1987-02-09
Title: Proposal for a Council recommendation on the coordinated introduction of public pan-European digital mobile communications in the Community

17.3.87                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No C 69/5
                                                                II
                                                        (Preparatory Acts)
                                                  COMMISSION
              Proposal   for   a Council recommendation on the coordinated introduction                  of    public
                                pan-European digital mobile communications in the Community
                                                       COM(87)35final
                               (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 9 February 1987)
                                                          (87/C 69/08)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                            Whereas such a future system, offering both voice and
                                                                    data services, is to be based on digital techniques,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European               thereby facilitating compatibility with the general digital
Economic Community, and in particular Article 235                   environment as will evolve with the coordinated intro-
thereof,                                                            duction of the integrated services digital network
                                                                    (ISDN) in the Community in accordance with Council
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                  recommendation 86/659/EEC ( 2 );
Having regard      to   the   opinion    of   the   European        Whereas a coordinated policy for the introduction of a
Parliament,                                                         pan-European digital cellular mobile radio service will
                                                                    make possible the establishment of a European market in
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                    mobile, portable and hand-held terminals. Whereas such
Social Committee,                                                   a market will be capable of creating, by virtue of its size,
                                                                    the necessary development conditions enabling the
Whereas Council recommendation 84/549/EEC (') calls                 European telecommunications industries to maintain and
for the introduction of services on the basis of a common           increase their share of the world market;
harmonized approach in the field of telecommunications;
                                                                    Whereas it is appropriate to implement Council Directive
Whereas the resources offered by modern telecommuni-
                                                                    83/189/EEC of 28 March 1983 laying down a
cations should be utilized to the full for the economic
                                                                    procedure for the provision of information in the field of
development of the Community;
                                                                    technical standards and regulations ( 3 );
Whereas mobile radio services are the only means of
contacting users on the move and the most efficient                 Whereas it is necessary to work out rapidly all
means for those users to be connected to the public                 agreements necessary to allow unrestricted access to
telecommunications networks;                                        mobile communications and free circulation of mobile
                                                                    terminals everywhere in the Community for the
Whereas the mobile communications systems currently in              European user;
use in the Community are largely incompatible and do
not allow users on the move in vehicles, boats, trains or           Whereas the rapid implementation of Council Directive
on foot throughout the Community to reap the benefits               86/361/EEC of 24 July 1986 on the initial stage of the
of European-wide services and European-wide markets;                mutual recognition of type approval for telecommuni-
                                                                    cations terminal equipment (4) will make an important
Whereas the change-over to the second generation                    contribution towards this goal;
cellular mobile communications system will provide a
unique opportunity to establish truly pan-European
                                                                    Whereas consideration should be given to the Council
mobile communications;
                                                                    Directive relating to standardization in the field of infor-
                                                                    mation technology and telecommunications, and to any
Whereas the European Conference of Postal and
                                                                    later proposal for directives that the Commission may
Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) has set up
                                                                    make;
a special working group, referred to as GSM ('Groupe
Special Mobile'), for planning all system aspects of a
second generation cellular mobile radio infrastructure;
                                                                     O OJ No L 382, 31. 12. 1986, p. 36.
                                                                     O OJ No L 109, 26. 4. 1983, p. 8.
(') OJ No L 298, 16. 11. 1984, p. 49.                                (4) OJNoL217, 5. 8. 1986, p. 21.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 69/6                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                  17.3.87
Whereas it is appropriate to make full use of the                2. In so doing, special consideration shall be given to:
potential of the Community's financial instruments in
                                                                    — the choice of the transmission system and network
order to promote the development of the Member States'
                                                                        interfaces,
infrastructure;
                                                                    — the time schedule set out in the Annex,
Whereas special attention should be paid to the urgent
requirement of certain users for pan-European mobile                — the start of service at the latest from 1991
communications, regarding in particular the communi-                    onwards, with geographical coverage              and
cation needs of users in vehicles on major pan-European                 penetration objectives compatible with commercial
routes and in trains, and those users who would benefit                 strategies;
from the development of telephony in aircraft and of a           3. That the telecommunications administrations continue
truly pan-European paging system;                                   the cooperation within the European Conference of
                                                                    Postal and Telecommunications Administrations
Whereas the implementation of such a policy will lead to            (CEPT), particularly concerning the objectives and
closer cooperation, at Community level, between the                 time schedule drawn up in the Annex for the
telecommunications industry, on the one hand, and the               completion of the specifications of the pan-European
telecommunications administrations and the recognized               cellular digital mobile communications system;
private operating agencies offering public mobile
telecommunications services, hereinafter referred to as          4. That the telecommunications administrations plan for
'telecommunications administrations' on the other;                  a gradual evolution from any existing public mobile
                                                                    radio systems to the pan-European cellular digital
Whereas a favourable opinion has been delivered by the              mobile communications system so as to ensure a
senior officials group on telecommunications (SOG-T),               transition which meets the needs of users,
according to which the recommendations drawn up by                  telecommunications administrations and the European
the analysis and forecasting group (GAP) provide a                  manufacturing industry;
strategic basis for the development of public mobile
communications in the Community enabling European                5. That Member State Governments and telecommuni-
users on the move to communicate efficiently and                    cations administrations rapidly complete all technical
economically;                                                       arrangements necessary to allow unrestricted access to
                                                                    mobile communications;
Whereas favourable opinions on these recommendations
have been delivered by the telecommunications                    6. That the Community's financial instruments and the
administrations, by the European Conference of Postal               Community's technological research and development
and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) and                   programmes take this recommendation into account
by the telecommunications equipment manufacturers in                within the framework of their interventions, par-
the Member States;                                                  ticularly as regards investments required for the
                                                                    implementation of the pan-European cellular digital
Whereas these measures will allow the economic benefit              mobile communications system and the development
and rapidly increasing market potential of public mobile            of the required technological base;
communications to be fully realized in the Community;
                                                                 7. That Member State Governments invite the
Whereas the Treaty has not provided the necessary                   telecommunications administrations to carry out this
powers,                                                             recommendation;
                                                                 8. That Member State Governments inform the
HEREBY RECOMMENDS:                                                  Commission at the end of each year, from the end of
                                                                    1987 onwards, of the measures taken and problems
1. That the telecommunications administrations carry                encountered in the course of implementing this
    out the detailed recommendations concerning the                 recommendation. The progress of work will be
    coordinated introduction of public pan-European                 examined by the Commission and the senior officials
    cellular digital mobile communications in the                   group on telecommunications which was set up by the
    Community, as described in the Annex;                           Council on 4 November 1983.
 ---pagebreak--- 17.3.87                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                     No C 69/7
                                                              ANNEX
        Detailed recommendations concerning the coordinated introduction of public pan-European cellular digital
                                                       mobile communications
        1. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
            The future pan-European cellular digital mobile communications system should fulfill the following
            general requirements:
            — be suitable for operation in the frequency bands 890 to 915 and 935 to 960 M H z to be made
                available for the pan-European cellular digital mobile communications system,
            — permit a traffic flow (measured in E/kmVMHz) greater than, or equal to, existing systems, bearing
                in mind the scarcity of the bandwidth resource allowed for these systems,
            — provide the user with a voice transmission quality at least equal to the best of the existing systems,
            — allow for efficient use of hand-held terminals,
            — be sufficiently flexible to facilitate the introduction of new services related to ISDN.
            The cost of the system should be considered in terms of the cost of the fixed infrastructure to be met by
            the telecommunications administrations, taking into account both urban and rural areas, and the cost of
            the mobile equipment, usually met by the mobile subscribers. Both costs should be within affordable
            limits and in any case these costs must not exceed those for the existing earlier public mobile telephone
            systems working in the 900 M H z band. Since the cost of the mobile communication equipment will
            constitute the main portion of the total system cost, it is preferable for the mobile equipment cost (for
            quantities in excess of 100 000) to be lower than that for existing earlier public mobile telephone systems
            working in the 900 MHz band.
        2. CHOICE OF TRANSMISSION SYSTEM
            The transmission mode for the pan-European mobile system should be digital. The final choice of the
            particular technical option (radio subsystem multiple access method) within the digital mode should be
            made by the administrations not later than May 1987, on the basis of work carried out by the CEPT
            and particularly its special group for mobile communications, referred to as GSM (Groupe Special
            Mobile).
        3. NETWORK ARCHITECTURE
            The principles of the network structure and the definition and allocation of functions between the
            various system components — mobile stations (MS), base stations (BS), and mobile switching centers
            (MSC) — must be defined by July 1987. In the course of this work, the appropriate interfaces between
            the various system components (MS-BS-MSC) should be completely specified for all OSI layers
            applicable to the relevant services, and for all applications using those interfaces (call processing
            functions, maintenance, etc.). The system must be able to support geographically co-located digital
            cellular mobile radio operators.
        4. MOBILE INTERFACES T O BE DEFINED AND SPECIFIED IN DETAIL BY END 1987
            (a) S reference point, with B (N Kbits/s) + D (NT Kbits/s) structure (N and N' to be defined);
            (b) Interface between MS and BS;
            (c) Interface between BS and MSC.
            A minimum set of man-machine interface specifications (control procedures) should be established.
        5. MOBILE SERVICES T O BE DEFINED AND SPECIFIED IN DETAIL BY END 1987 AND
            AVAILABLE FOR PROVISION IN ALL MEMBER STATES STARTING FROM 1991, W I T H
            HAND-OVER AND NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL ROAMING
            Although, initially, voice telephony capabilities will constitute the most important service required, the
            mobile system must nevertheless be open to an overall evolution towards ISDN services (')•
        (') O J N o C 157,24.6. 1986, p. 3.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 69/8                               Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n Communities                        17. 3. 87
              Therefore, the following mobile services should be defined and specified in detail by end 1987 and
              available in all Member States starting from 1991:
              (a) Bearer services
                   — Non-transparent bearer service for speech,
                   — Transparent bearer service for data transmission at N Kbit/s switched in the network at 64
                       Kbit/s (N to be defined);
              (b) Basic services
                   — Hand-over,
                   — National/International roaming;
              (c) Teleservices
                   Telephony at 3,1 kHz (corresponding to N Kbit/s on B channel. N is to be defined);
              (d) Supplementary services
                   — Calling line identification,
                   — Subscriber call charge meter,
                   — Speech encryption.
              This list may be added to by CEPT.
           6. SIGNALLING
              User access signalling (subscriber signalling) should be defined along the principles of the existing CEPT
              recommendations for ISDN, and should be able to permit supplementary services of ISDN/PSTN.
              Network and inter-network signalling processes should be defined in the framework of the SS No 7 in
              such a way that international roaming and hand over facilities are safeguarded.
           7. TARIFF CONSIDERATIONS
              The telecommunications administrations are invited to consider within the CEPT framework the
              following tariff proposals:
              — Given the scarcity of frequency resources, the service should be charged basically according to the
                  duration of the radio channel use;
              — The tariffs should take into account the current trend towards less distant dependence considering
                  that:
                  — the transmission costs for long distance telephone calls represent a relatively small part of total
                      costs, and therefore the tariffs for telephone calls will become more and more independent of
                      distance,
                  — in general there is no practical means at present for the calling subscriber to know the location
                      and the status of the called subscriber in another country, namely whether the called subscriber is
                      a mobile or fixed.
                  By July 1987, the basic framework of charging principles should be identified, so that the network
                  implications can be identified and resolved in a timely manner.
           8. GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE
              The introduction date of the pan-European cellular digital mobile communications system should be
              1991 at the latest. Major urban areas should be covered by 1993 at the latest. The main links between
              these major urban areas should be covered by 1995 at the latest.
              Further, the administrations should study jointly mutual priorities for coverage in order to stimulate the
              maximum pan-European traffic as early as possible. This should take into account the needs of users in
              vehicles on major European routes, and the needs of air travellers located between city centers and
              international airports.