The European Commission (EC) offices in Brussels hosted last 29 June the 18th meeting of the group set up by the Communications Committee (COCOM) to focus on implementation of the regulatory framework for pan-European systems that supply mobile satellite services (MSS) in the 2 GHz frequency band.
During the first part of the meeting the representatives of the selected systems, Inmarsat and Echostar Mobile Limited (EML) gave a presentation on the current status of the respective systems’ development as well as the level of authorisations already granted by the European Union (EU) member states. Note that EML and Inmarsat have obtained authorisation (or letters of intent) from most member states regarding the satellite component and around ten authorisations for the terrestrial component, i.e. for complementary ground components (CGCs).
Only the member state representatives took part in the second part of the meeting, where opinions were exchanged on the current state of authorisations granted or in the process of being granted. In this regard, it was reported that Portugal had recently authorised the two operators for both components: satellite and CGC.
Also discussed were the enforcement measures applied by some member states, specifically France, the United Kingdom and Germany.
Finally, it was communicated that processes to revise fees applicable to CGCs were under way in some member states, among them Spain, France and the United Kingdom.
