BRUSSELS -- Europe got it right by coordinating wireless standards for 3G, but 10 years later has lost its dominance because of a lack of spectrum, U.S. Ambassador to the EU William Kennard said Tuesday at the annual European spectrum management conference. Europe’s information and communications technology market is about the same size as the U.S.’s, but with 200 million more people, it’s underperforming, he said. He floated the idea of pan-European spectrum auctions but said political pressures must be surmounted before that can happen. Others questioned whether Europe-wide auctions are the answer.
World IPv6 Day was “uneventful” in that things went “exactly as planned,” Akamai Vice President of Engineering Andy Champagne said in an interview Wednesday. Although the global test of the new Internet addressing technology was still going on, the day was already successful, said Robert Kisteleki, research and development science group manager of European Regional Internet Registry RIPE NCC. There were “very few hiccups” and those were expected, he said. One glitch was that Arabic versions for some major sites failed to work in the Middle East, leaving end-users access only in English, said IPv6 Forum President Latif Ladid.
Europe made progress on its digital agenda over the last year, but results in some areas are still “disappointing,” the European Commission said Tuesday. The first digital agenda scorecard, which measured how well countries performed in meeting 13 agreed targets from May 2010-May 2011, showed that 65 percent of the population now uses the Internet yet rollout of superfast broadband lags, the EC said. Of the 13 targets, it said regular Internet use, online shopping and e-government services are all on the rise. There’s still “considerable room for development” of on-demand services and online music subscriptions, which now have significant markets only in the largest European countries, it said. There was mixed progress in broadband availability and take-up, with very high-speed broadband concentrated in a few, mostly urban, areas, it said. Adoption of fixed broadband is increasing, but the growth rate in 2010 was the lowest since 2002, the EC said. It said the slowdown is troubling because nearly 40 percent of homes still have no broadband connection. Coverage of 3G mobile networks reached 90 percent in 2010. Europe’s goal is for universal coverage at 30 Mbps, already available in nearly 30 percent of households, the EC said. Only 5 percent of all fixed lines deliver speeds of 30 Mbps and above, it said. Cross-border e-commerce and use of the Internet by small and mid-sized enterprises remains sluggish, it said. Roaming prices are down, but are still more than three times as expensive as domestic calls, it said. Another weak area is public spending on research and development, the EC said. The 10 million homes not served by broadband must be reached by a combination of technologies, Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said at a high-level broadband conference in Brussels. She said she favors a mix of infrastructure -- wired networks as well as terrestrial or satellite wireless -- because while wireless technology doesn’t perform as well as advanced wired networks, it’s “good and getting better.” Satellites already contribute to the goal of broadband for all, but Europe’s clear mandate on basic broadband should spur the sector to continue long-term investment, she said. Another reason for a mix of technologies is that it promotes competition among platforms, she said. “We don’t want to pick winners,” Kroes said. She said she wants to “send a clear signal” to the market and public investors that “we cannot afford to rule out viable solutions” in the race to deliver broadband for all by 2013. The scorecard confirms the decline in revenue and investment by telecom operators for the second year in a row, despite the boom in data traffic and consumer broadband take-up, said the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association. The disconnect between traffic increases and revenue growth calls for a “broader reflection on the economy of the sector and its impact on the future of the Internet,” said ETNO Executive Board Chairman Luigi Gambardella. ETNO urged the EC to allow new business models to emerge from the market, such as differentiated offers and commercial agreements on traffic delivery. It also wants the EC to encourage national regulators to use a more targeted approach to next-generation access networks, and to speed consumer adoption of fast and ultra-fast networks by updating copyright and licensing laws to enable more legitimate online offers. Alternative operators said they're worried about Europe falling behind on broadband speeds. The main problem is that “most of Europe’s historic telcos are continuing to sweat old copper networks” while other regions in the world have moved to high-speed fiber, said European Competitive Telecommunications Association Director Ilsa Godlovitch. The EC must ensure there’s a link, as with other utility industries, between investments companies make to upgrade their infrastructure and what they're allowed to charge for their networks, she said. In most countries, incumbents are paid for renewing their networks regardless of whether they invest in new ones, she said. Satellite operators applauded Kroes for recognizing what they called their sector’s crucial role in delivering 100 percent broadband coverage. Despite a clear political objective, rising user needs and the availability of funding, Europe’s digital divide remains, said European Satellite Operators’ Association Secretary General Aarti Holla. She said ESOA wants local authorities to “move away from a one size fits all approach,” think pragmatically and be creative in finding solutions for unconnected areas.
EU governments mostly agree with the European Commission’s proposed five-year spectrum policy plan but the “particularly difficult” subject area means more work is needed to reconcile differences among countries and between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, Hungarian Information and Communication Minister Zsolt Nyitrai said at a Friday Telecom Council meeting. Hungary, which currently holds the EU Presidency, has made every effort to accommodate the concerns raised by governments, but several issues will be left to the incoming Polish Presidency to try to resolve, he said. One of the chief questions is whether all, or most, EU members will be able to free up the 800 MHz “digital dividend” band by 2013, which the EC badly wants.
Misuse of mobile payment systems is a growing threat, the European Police Office said in its latest report on organized crime trends in the EU. Mobile banking offers ample opportunities for money laundering, and Europol is starting to see suspicious transaction reports related to mobile money transfers, it said. But some, including the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force, said there’s little evidence that m-payments are a problem, and that regulation of such activities must take into account their enormous societal benefits.
The Internet Society’s June 8 World Internet Protocol version 6 Day will be a “global-scale test flight,” aimed at nudging the Internet sector to prepare for the new technology as IPv4 addresses run out, ISOC Technology Program Manager Phil Roberts said Friday. Major industry players will enable IPv6 on their main websites for 24 hours, he said in an email. IPv4 access will also be still be available, he said. “Minor technical glitches” may occur, but the trial run will allow participating organizations to work with operating system manufacturers, home route vendors and ISPs to tackle them, he said. Several more tests will likely be needed as IPv6 is rolled out, said Google Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf.
There’s no evidence yet to suggest that blocking and throttling are threatening the open Internet, the European Commission said Tuesday in a statement on net neutrality to the European Parliament and Council. However, if further investigation uncovers “significant and persistent” problems, the EC won’t rule out legislative fixes, it said. The “wait and see” approach appeared to sit well with industry sectors, but digital advocacy and consumer groups strongly criticized it.
Telephone and Internet traffic data storage “has proved useful in criminal investigations” but the EU data retention directive needs reworking, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said Monday. A European Commission evaluation of how the measure is working found wide-ranging differences in how it’s adopted and used across the EU, which Malmström said she'd remedy in amendments, but also general agreement by governments that it’s helping guard against serious crime. But civil rights advocates flayed the EC for recognizing the law’s failings but refusing to find a less privacy-invasive alternative.
Governments and industry must stop talking about protecting critical infrastructure and information and do more about it, speakers said at an April 15 telecom ministerial conference hosted by the EU Hungarian Presidency in Balatonfured, Hungary. Recent steps such as the launch of an EU-U.S. working group offer some hope of finding ways to deter and resolve cyberattacks, said Estonian Economic Affairs and Communications Minister Juhan Parts. But “we must learn from the bad guys,” with their well-established teamwork and structure and rapid take-up of innovations, he said.
A Belgian court order forcing ISPs to use filtering or blocking to prevent unauthorized downloads violates in principle fundamental rights, European Court of Justice Advocate General (AG) Pedro Cruz Villalon said Thursday in an advisory opinion. Restrictions on Internet users’ rights are permissible only under laws that are accessible, clear and predictable, he said. The opinion isn’t binding, but the ECJ usually follows its advisors’ recommendations. Meanwhile, a French parliamentary panel recommended that the government avoid blocking as much as possible because of its negative side effects.