Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-09-02-Speech-2-219"
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"en.20080902.29.2-219"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in the telecommunications world any medium which allows the transmission of voice, data and images is a precious resource. This is why the idea that in a few years’ time there will be a significant, not to say massive, quantity of radio spectrum available, in other words new frequencies available for new uses, is a huge social and cultural opportunity as well as an economic and commercial one: in fact, someone has even quantified the commercial value of the digital dividend already.
We therefore need a suitable European policy, capable of exploiting this resource to the maximum, and turning Europe into a driver and not just an assembler of national policies. As we all know, in other parts of the world, such as Japan and the USA, this resource is already being used to great effect, thereby giving businesses in those regions a competitive edge.
We have therefore got some time to make up – or at any rate use rapidly – and even if the digital switchover is completed in 2012 – a date which should be absolutely and comprehensively respected – we need to focus now, without delay, on reforming the radio spectrum and on the digital dividend.
The radio spectrum is a natural and hence a public resource. Its value must therefore be exploited, for economic purposes certainly, but it also has a social value which must be exploited for the benefit of the general public, for example by guaranteeing wide accessibility for all citizens, including the disadvantaged, by bringing broadband services to the most remote areas of our country and thus eliminating the digital divide which is still a feature of so many parts of Europe, and I am not just thinking of rural areas but also of urban and industrial areas.
I was saying that time presses for the digital dividend and I think that we need to use this last part of the parliamentary term to make some progress together, Member States and Europe alike. To the Commission and the Council I would say: move forward together in the direction of a more positive response to the need for harmonisation, a response which, as we have all been saying, will enable us to make optimal and more effective use of the digital dividend. We are hoping for strong coordination at European level and an ability to speak with one voice in the international negotiations, which have opened, I believe, in Geneva.
Our report makes various points and I will just single out one or two: the need for a win-win strategy, as the Commissioner was saying, in other words an allocation of resources which satisfies audiovisual and media operators – who are already present in the field to ensure cultural pluralism and to defend cultural identities – and also answers the needs of and provides adequate space for telecommunications sectors, which need to develop new services and a broad range of technologies to respond to new requirements from modern consumers. This means that media and telecommunications can operate together, in the spirit of colleagues, and on a level playing field.
However, there is a third party who I would like to see being a winner as well as the others: namely those users, even unlicensed users, who are represented by charitable bodies, local entities, small community networks and general interest associations. Another point, with which I will conclude, Mr President, is one on which, as the Council representatives also said, there are differing views, in Parliament and between the various Member States, and that concerns the level of collaboration between the various authorities in this field.
I believe that on the one hand – and here Parliament is in agreement – we must respect the responsibility of Member States in terms of allocating frequencies, but we must also assess together the vital need for harmonisation, because we should all be aware that if we fail to harmonise, if we fail to coordinate and fail to take common decisions, the economic and social value of the spectrum will be diminished. In my mind, I think of the successful and happy outcome of the GSM.
Therefore, on the basis of cost/benefit analyses carried out in various countries, as part of national projects, regarding the dividend sought by our report, on the basis of the broadest possible debate to be held in the Member States, involving both operators and the general public, I believe that in the end, with a big dose of political will at European level, we must all come to recognise the added value of a Europe-wide management of this resource which will, I believe, offer a challenge to Europe both socially and economically."@en1
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