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Important legal notice: The information on this site is subject to a disclaimer, and a copyright notice. |
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The use of spectrum has increased very rapidly in recent years. Radio-based
equipment is in everyone’s pocket, new applications are introduced by the minute
and more and more information is transported over the airwaves, be that between
your laptop and your mobile phone or from a satellite to your navigator.
Vertical applications are being digitised throughout the radio spectrum. It is
envisioned that the use of spectrum will continue to increase rapidly over the
coming decade.
It has been suggested by some commentators that traditional methods of spectrum
management are inadequate. According to them, the current regimes do not address
the problem of shortage of spectrum, impede innovation, and are not agile enough
to fully service the needs of current and future users of spectrum.
Some believe that one of the possible tools to achieve more flexible spectrum
management is secondary trading of rights to use radio spectrum. Secondary
trading may include: transfer of licences, leasing of licenses, transfer or
lease of part of licenses, reconfiguration, change of use etc.
In the electronic communication framework directive (2002/21/EC)
it is stated regarding secondary trading of rights to use radio spectrum that:
...
3. Member States may make provision for undertakings to transfer rights to use
radio frequencies with other undertakings.
4. Member States shall ensure that an undertaking's intention to transfer
rights to use radio frequencies is notified to the national regulatory
authority responsible for spectrum assignment and that any transfer takes
place in accordance with procedures laid down by the national regulatory
authority and is made public. National regulatory authorities shall ensure
that competition is not distorted as a result of any such transaction. Where
radio frequency use has been harmonised through the application of Decision No
676/2002/EC (Radio Spectrum Decision) or other Community measures, any such
transfer shall not result in change of use of that radio frequency.
Quote from the framework directive article 9 English version
Currently initiatives are underway in a number of EU member states to
implement article 9 of the framework directive. Implementation of license
transfers as described in article 9 is however optional, and the directive does
not specify in detail the regulatory framework to be used in implementing
license transfers. This could lead to an uncoordinated implementation of the
directive throughout the EU. As has been described by Analysys (see footnote 1) in
their current work for the commission the implementation of the article ranges
from no trading to full trading throughout the EU member states.
To investigate the level of interest in secondary trading of rights to use radio
spectrum as a tool for more flexible spectrum management, the European
Commission has issued a request for opinion to the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG).
The main objective of the request is
“…to ensure that the introduction of secondary trading in some or all Member
States has a positive effect in the European Community, in particular for the EU
internal market and for European competitiveness.”
In response to this, the RSPG has set up a working group on secondary trading to
draft an RSPG opinion. One part of the work in formulating the RSPG opinion is
to carry out this public consultation.
This questionnaire takes an overall EU wide perspective, thus the responses will
be analysed and presented mainly from an EU perspective.
All responses to this questionnaire will be made publicly available on the RSPG
website.
(1) Study commissioned by the European Commission entitled "Study on
conditions and options in introducing secondary trading of radio spectrum in the
European Community" (http://www.analysys.com)
Your details
Name
Sector (Operator/Manufacturer/End-user/Other)
Organisation/Company
Title/Responsibility
Email
General questions
1) Do you consider secondary trading of rights to use radio spectrum to be
beneficial to consumers, businesses and radio users? why/why not?
2) What types of transfer of rights to use radio spectrum (full, leasing,
partial etc.) do you consider can be beneficial to consumers, businesses and
radio users? why/why not?
3) What rights and associated obligations do you consider should be within the
scope of secondary trading of rights to use radio spectrum?
4) Would you want to see secondary trading of rights to use radio spectrum
introduced in your country or in the countries of interest to you?
a) If yes – why, to what extent? when? frequency
bands/services?
b) If no – why not, are there other tools that better suit
your needs?
5) What information and electronic communication facilities should be made
available to facilitate implementation of secondary trading of rights to use
radio spectrum?
Scope of trading – change of use, reconfiguration
6) Is the possibility to reconfigure rights important? If yes, what kinds of
reconfiguration do you consider would benefit consumers, businesses and users of
spectrum? (geography, frequency, time, other)
7) Is the possibility to use the spectrum in a flexible way important? If yes,
what kinds of flexibility do you consider would benefit consumers, business and
users of spectrum (service, technical constrains, other)
8) To what extent is the tenure an important issue in assessing secondary
trading? (indefinite, rolling, fixed, annual, other)
9) Should the same rules and regulations apply for the whole of the spectrum?
a) Is there a need for different rules and regulations for
different frequency bands? geographical areas? services? users?
b) If you see a need for different rules and regulations in
question 8a above, please give examples
Competition aspects
10) Should there be specific competition rules in relation to implementing
secondary trading of rights to use radio spectrum, or is general competition law
enough?
The role of the spectrum management authority
11) What do you see as the main responsibilities for a spectrum management
authority in regards to secondary trading of rights to use radio spectrum?
12) To what extent is spectrum management authority approval of trades a benefit
or an impediment to the development of a market for secondary trading of rights
to use radio spectrum? Under what circumstances do you consider it would be
necessary for a spectrum management authority to refuse a trade?
13) What specific measures could a spectrum management authority take to handle
the issues if secondary trading is introduced? (ex ante approval procedures, ex
post notification, competition aspects, limit change of use, interference
aspects, other)
14) To what extent should the national spectrum management authority actively
facilitate secondary trading of rights to use radio spectrum?
Community aspects
15) Do you consider that adoption of individual regimes by EU member states will
cause problems for consumers, businesses and radio users? If yes, in what ways
and to what extent?
16) Do you consider that the EU should take measures to facilitate the
implementation of secondary trading of rights to use radio spectrum? If so, in
what areas and to what extent?
17) To what extent is European harmonisation of frequencies an important issue
in regards to secondary trading of rights to use radio spectrum?
Related experiences and examples of secondary trading
18) What are your experiences with the current spectrum management regimes?
19) What are your experiences of secondary trading of rights to use radio
spectrum?
20) Please describe specific scenarios in which you consider that the
introduction of secondary trading of rights to use radio spectrum would be
beneficial
21) Any other comments
Contact: responses to the above mentioned questions should be sent
exclusively to infso-rspg@ec.europa.eu
for the attention of the RSPG Secretariat. Only electronic contributions will be
taken into consideration.
Date of launch of the public consultation: 10 February 2004
Deadline for submission of comments: 2 April 2004
This page was last updated on 11/02/2004