European Parliament
A7-0019/2012
Vicky Ford,
on behalf of the ECR Group
. –
Madam President, Commissioner, Spectrum Gunnar, our mobile data traffic is expected to double, double and double again in the next three years; we love our smartphones, new devices, new apps. Coordinated spectrum release will boost access, allow seamless services across our borders, drive competition and innovation and deliver lower prices and higher quality.
Spectrum is a finite resource often hoarded by public sectors. Countries should liberalise the existing 3G spectrum for the next generation and allow spectrum to be traded, giving access to new entrants. Releasing spectrum is vital for economic growth. In rural areas at 800 Mhz you can access the parts other bands cannot reach and 2.6 GHz will give deeper coverage in our cities.
It is important to coordinate activities and a spectrum inventory will help. But Member States must also be able to safeguard local services. To maintain our competitive position our countries must deliver our shared digital vision. Allocating spectrum is one step but customers need to be able to use it. For that we need long-term investment in our infrastructure and that is an even bigger challenge.
(The speaker agreed to take a blue-card question under Rule 149(8))

