THE European Union's efforts to create a pan European telecommunications market could suffer if it does not find new mechanisms for making joint decisions, the Competition Commissioner, Mr Karel Van Miert, said yesterday.
Mr Van Miert told a telecoms forum he was especially concerned about the lack of joint EU representation in decisive international talks, particularly in the international Telecommunications Union.
"The allocation of frequencies, management of spectrum and granting of orbital slots for satellite systems arc likewise problematic areas vis a vis the current coordination mechanisms between the member states," he said in a prepared text.
Mr Van Miert stopped short of calling for a European telecommunications regulatory agency, saying it was not yet clear whether that was desirable.
But he said that if such a body were created, it should have a narrow mandate covering mainly technical areas such as numbering and spectrum management.
"Competitors throughout the EU will need much greater access to numbers. They need more numbers and ultimately number portability which must be planned out at EU level," he said.
The Telecommunications Council has so far rejected a Commission proposal to set up a single EU system for licensing satellite personal communications operators. Governments argue that enough co-ordination already took place between existing international telecoms agencies.
