Vice-President Kroes calls on 21 Member States to take urgent measures on mobile satellite services
Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda, has issued an urgent call to twenty one EU countries to rapidly introduce all the legislative measures necessary to allow the pan-EU deployment of mobile satellite services that could be used for high-speed internet, mobile television and radio or emergency communications to EU consumers and businesses. According to the timetable agreed by a Decision of the European Parliament and the EU's Council of Ministers in 2008, Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) should be deployed in all EU Member States by May 2011 at the latest. But, more than twenty months after the Commission selected two operators to provide such pan-European services, 21 Member States have not yet adopted all the national rules needed to facilitate MSS deployment. Vice-President Kroes recently appealed also to the two operators concerned to step up their efforts. The key role that wireless broadband (both satellite and terrestrial) can play to ensure broadband coverage, including in remote and rural areas, is underlined in the Digital Agenda for Europe.
Neelie Kroes said: "Member States should urgently take all measures necessary to allow the introduction of mobile satellite services throughout the EU. Mobile satellite services have an important role to play in providing innovative services to businesses and citizens across Europe, including in rural or remote areas, and in meeting our Digital Agenda targets of making broadband available to everyone in Europe."
Twenty one Member States have not yet put in place all the necessary legislative measures to allow Inmarsat Ventures Limited and Solaris Mobile Limited, the two operators selected in May 2009 to provide pan-European mobile satellite services, to offer mobile satellite services from May 2011.
Vice-President Kroes has written today to the twenty one Member States in question urging them to remove remaining legal uncertainties, such as licence fees, and to put in place all necessary implementation measures without further delay. The twenty one Member States are Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Background
The Commission proposed to create a single selection and authorisation process for mobile satellite services (MSS) at EU level to facilitate the emergence of a Single Market for mobile satellite services and maximise its potential, to the benefit of consumers and businesses.
The approach was endorsed by the European Parliament and the EU's Council of Ministers on 30 June 2008, when they adopted a Decision for the selection procedure for MSS to be organised at European level. The Decision established a selection and authorisation process that ensures a coordinated introduction of MSS in the EU. On 13 May 2009, the Commission selected Inmarsat Ventures Limited and Solaris Mobile Limited as the pan-EU mobile satellite service operators.
