EU Commissioner Seeks Accelerated Digital Transition

BRUSSELS: The European Union’s commissioner for information society and media, Viviane Reding, is calling on member states to accelerate the digital transition ahead of the 2012 deadline, arguing that the resulting "digital dividend" could be transformed into 50 billion euros worth of economic growth.

Reding made the comments yesterday while delivering the Ludwig Erhard Lecture to the Lisbon Council in Brussels. In her speech, titled "Digital Europe: Europe’s Fast Track to Economic Recovery," Reding stated: "I believe the present economic crisis requires us to accelerate the ongoing switchover from analogue to digital TV in Europe."

Germany, Finland, Luxembourg, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium (Flanders) and parts of Austria have already freed up valuable spectrum for broadband services, Reding said. She added: "The Commission estimates that the incremental value of this spectrum for wireless broadband across the EU is between 150 billion euros and 200 billion euros. Appropriate European coordination of member states’ work on the digital dividend would increase the potential economic impact of the digital dividend by an additional 50 billion euros between now and 2015. Every corner of Europe could reap this "digital dividend," without it costing the taxpayer a single cent—if all EU governments act now." Reding urged member states not to wait till the cut-off date of 2012. "Act swiftly now," she said.

Today, Reding unveiled a consultation in order to determine how EU member states can work together to benefit from the digital dividend. In announcing the consultation, which runs through early September, she said: "The digital dividend comes at a critical moment when we want to connect all parts of Europe to high-speed broadband, ensure high quality broadcasting, and expand consumer choice in future wireless services. Europe will only achieve all of this if it adopts a coordinated approach using radio spectrum in the most efficient way. Depending on the choices we make, the potential impact of the digital dividend can be increased by billions of euros. We want to better understand what the public, broadcasters, mobile operators and other market players think of these choices before we finalize our proposals." 

Following the consultation, the Commission aims to adopt an EU roadmap outlining the benefits of spectrum coordination while giving member states flexibility to address local market conditions.