According to a statement:
“The Commission believes that although, in
principle, 3G licensing conditions should not be changed, in order
to ensure a predictable environment and legal certainty favourable
to long-term investments, flexibility is recommended in case of
unpredictable changes of circumstances requiring adaptations. These
should remain proportional and transparent.”
While several operators have started implementing 3G networks,
the Commission acknowledges that 3G is not at this stage a market
reality. However, it believes there is “growing evidence of
significant market potential for wireless data services that will
constitute the added value of 3G, though uncertainty about the
detailed evolution of the market persists.”
It adds:
“The Commission believes that the sector is
best served by letting the market drive the process ahead, and by
allowing for the deployment of a healthy competitive environment to
generate new products which consumers will want to buy and
use.“
The Commission says that it intends to use the new regulatory
framework for electronic communications to work together with the
national administrations to develop new harmonised approaches to
licensing and attribution of rights to use radio spectrum for
wireless applications.
The Communication and other Commission documents on 3G
