Press release - UMTS licences
and technology : dynamics to be distributed
17 october 2001
The Strategic Advisory Board on Information
Technologies (Conseil stratégique des technologies de l'information,
or CSTI) welcomes the Government's decision, announced Tuesday
16 October, to cut the cost of UMTS licences and to promptly re-launch
the procedure for allocating them.
This decision should help the promotion of access to this technology
and deployment of third-generation mobile phone technology.
During the inaugural CSTI meeting last 11 April,
attended by Prime Minister, there was discussion of the deteriorating
conditions - in both financial and technological terms - for the
launch of UMTS in France and throughout the European Union. The
Prime Minister took this opportunity to express his desire for
the CSTI to take up these issues.
In the wake of the government decision, the
CSTI recommends:
- That any measures necessary be taken, so that this choice,
made in a difficult economic situation, is reinforced or even
broadened, to the extent possible, by similar decisions taken
by France's partners;
- That there be more in-depth co-ordination of the practical
implementation of the networks, in particular concerning the
interoperability of systems in Europe;
- That the greatest attention be paid to the technical conditions
for the technologies' deployment, and in particular that the
necessary technological innovations and developments are monitored,
as well as their respective deadlines;
- That the development of content and software for this technology
be fostered at the same time as the technology is deployed by
guaranteeing, in particular, that they are properly paid.
At the same time, the CSTI is continuing its
work on the issues submitted to it for study by the Prime Minister
during its first meeting, and on the occasion of the meeting of
the Interministerial Committee on Regional Planning and Development
(CIADT) last 9 July, in order to help define the conditions necessary
for providing universal access to the communications speeds and
resources needed for everyone's activities and for promoting the
growth of high-speed infrastructure and services in our country.
The Strategic Advisory Board on Information
Technologies (Conseil stratégique des technologies de l'information,
or CSTI), which is made up of researchers
and business leaders,
advises the Prime Minister in the field of information technology
regarding the implementation and evaluation of the activities
of the French Government Programme for the Information Society
and European Union programmes.
---------------------
See also: CSTI recommendations
on UMTS
