The global effort to set ultrawide broadband (UWB) standards is winding down but it’s unlikely to result in total harmonization, several key players said. The U.S. has completed its work, and Europe and Japan are expected to adopt standards by March. But lingering concerns over interference with other spectrum users -- and the lack of a unified standard -- could slow uptake, experts said.
Dugie Standeford
Dugie Standeford, European Correspondent, Communications Daily and Privacy Daily, is a former lawyer. She joined Warren Communications News in 2000 to report on internet policy and regulation. In 2003 she moved to the U.K. and since then has covered European telecommunications issues. She previously covered the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and intellectual property law matters. She has a degree in psychology from Duke University and a law degree from the University of Tulsa College of Law.
As Deutsche Telekom (DT) prepares to spend billions on new optical fiber lines in Germany, competitors fear being squeezed out. A question that seems largely settled in the U.S. the extent to which and price at which incumbent telcos must give rivals access to local fiber loops -- is still unresolved in the European Union (EU). The murk has prompted one telecom expert to urge the European Commission (EC) to revisit the issue in next year’s major review of European e-communications laws.
The European Parliament (EP) wants to cooperate on the prickly issue of mandatary retention of Internet and telecom traffic data but resents pressure for a quick decision, some members said Mon. Admitting the EP has limited sway in the arena, EP Pres. Josep Borrell criticized the Council of the European Union for resisting continued calls to work more openly. Legislative bodies “can’t continue to work in the dark” on such an important matter, he said as the EP and national parliaments met jointly to improve their scrutiny of police and judicial antiterrorism and criminal activities.
Emotions ran “quite high” over mandatory retention of communications traffic data after a meeting last Thurs. between U.K. Home Secy. Charles Clarke -- who now heads the Presidency’s Justice & Home Affairs Council -- and European Parliament (EP) members, a parliament member told us. Clarke, who updated the EP panel on civil liberties, justice and home affairs (LIBE) on Council efforts at data retention, left many MEPs fuming over a seeming “take it or leave it” attitude on the Council’s part, the MEP said. But another said refusal to compromise could hurt Parliament’s credibility for years.
The European Commission (EC) took action Thurs. against several more slow-moving member states for either failing to review their telecom markets for competition problems as required by the new telecom regulatory framework (NRF), or bungling the transposition of the framework into national law. The move to push countries to complete work on the 18 market reviews comes in part because of the EC’s impending (2006) review of the 5 directives that make up the NRF, said Information Society & Media Comr. Viviane Reding. That regulators in 3 “old” EU states, Belgium, Greece and Luxembourg, haven’t even adopted the NRF into national law -- although it’s been in force for over 2 years there -- shows the EC has to be “really tough,” Reding’s spokesman told us.
A recent report warning that pressure on European public service broadcasters (PSBs) is undermining TV’s role in supporting democracy touches on interesting issues but isn’t particularly useful to the European Commission’s (EC’s) efforts to update the TV Without Frontiers (TVWF) directive, said a spokesman for Information Society & Media Comr. Viviane Reding. Earlier this week, George Soros’s Open Society Initiative (OSI) published a study of the state of TV in 20 European countries, finding that commercialism is hurting PSBs (CD Oct 12 p7). Asked if the report could be used to buttress Reding’s arguments in support of revising the TVWF, the spokesman said many of the 20 countries it covers aren’t in the European Union (EU), and the bulk of the report deals with broadcast issues, while the thrust of the TVWF review is to convert the law to an audiovisual directive that takes into account convergence. Nonetheless, the report’s discussion of PSBs in neighboring countries to the EU, particularly the Balkans, provides the EC with more information on an area in which it’s already working with local PSBs seeking to shift from state-owned to independent broadcasting. The OSI report also analyzed media concentration in the 20 countries and recommended the EC establish an independent agency to monitor media markets. But Reding’s spokesman said the Commission already does that under the TVWF; media pluralism is one of several topics handled by a high-level “fundamental rights” committee. Setting up a new organization would require approval from EU member states who have made it clear that media pluralism is no business of the EC, the spokesman said. The OSI’s proposal isn’t realistic, he said; the best way to ensure pluralism is to beef up the TVWF. Meanwhile, Miklos Haraszti, Organization for Security & Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) representative on freedom of the media, said he agreed “very much” with the report, unsurprising since he wrote the foreword. He acknowledged, however, that some “evaluations of the findings might differ in some cases.” The OSCE Freedom of the Media is already taking action along the lines the OSI suggested, he said.
European national justice ministers Wed. failed agree on requiring retention of Internet and telecom traffic data, instead raising the possibility they'd consider approving a compromise measure floated this week by the European Union (EU) Presidency. After meeting in Brussels, the EU Justice & Home Affairs (JHA) Council said the original framework decision will remain under consideration as an option some nations favor. But, it said, “a majority of delegations were also open to the idea of adopting a directive” if it contains the scope, retention period, costs and review provisions the Presidency suggested.
TV’s role in underpinning democracy faces threat from media concentration as well as pressure on public service broadcasters (PSBs) to compete with commercial stations, George Soros’ Open Society Institute (OSI) said Tues. The state of TV in 20 nations, including European Union (EU) members, transition countries, candidate states, and potential candidates such as Turkey was assessed by OSI’s European Union Monitoring & Advocacy Program. As many were reviewing the 1,662-page document, one regulator disputed its claim that commercialism imperils PSBs.
European lawmakers, claiming they're being left out of decisions, are pressing for more scrutiny of antiterrorism and anticrime measures. The European Parliament (EP) and the U.K. Parliament called an Oct. 17- 18 meeting to address “the lack of transparency and of democracy” in legislative initiatives in the area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ). Data protection laws vary so much that “on the one hand, European citizens enjoy very different standards of protection and on the other security services find it difficult to exchange data,” the EP said. European nations and institutions must balance security and civil liberties, taking into account technical developments, the Parliament said. The EP envisions a scheme using European Commission proposals on obligations imposed on private firms gathering data useful for security purposes -- and their technical and economic impacts on phone or Internet providers -- and the privacy standards to which national law enforcement agencies and judges are held when dealing with personal data. The data exchange discussion will include presentations by U.K. Home Secretary Charles Clarke, EC Vp Franco Frattini, and MEP Alexander Alvaro, who drafted the report of the EP civil liberties, justice & home affairs committee on the Council’s draft framework decision on data retention.
Competing modes for retention of communications traffic data in Europe will be discussed at next week’s Justice & Home Affairs (JHA) Council meeting, the U.K. Home Office said Wed. Propelled by the U.K. Presidency -- which wants a mandate on storage of Internet and telecom transmission data in place before its term expires in Jan. -- officials are moving ahead on the Council of the European Union’s (EU) framework decision and the European Commission’s (EC) directive. But agreement on key provisions of the framework decision remains elusive, an Oct. 3 Council memo made clear.