Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-13-Speech-2-179"
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"en.20000613.14.2-179"2
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"Mr President, I too should like to congratulate Mr van Velzen on an excellent report. I totally support his emphasis on the need to protect the European consumer. We must at all costs ensure that the revolution in technology benefits everyone equally and that we do not create an information underclass. We also need more transparency, especially in roaming and international tariffs. I believe we should be looking at making invoices much clearer, for example, so that the consumer can tell whether he or she has chosen the right tariff. Where I differ with the rapporteur, however, is with his concerns on spectrum auctions.
Auctions are a fast, transparent, fair and economically efficient way of allocating the scarce resources of radio spectrum. Governments should not be trying to judge who will be innovative and successful. Industry, not government, is best placed to judge the opportunities offered by third-generation mobile telephony.
In the debate today and in committee criticisms have been levelled at allocating spectrum through auctions. It has been suggested that auctions are simply a device to provide extra money for governments. That is wrong. The fact that they raise money is subordinate to other aims such as fairness and economic efficiency. A well-defined auction with well-informed bidders ensures that licences are awarded to operators that can generate greatest economic benefit.
It has also been claimed that licence costs will just be passed on to the consumer. I do not believe so. Auctions allow the market to determine the commercial value of scarce radio spectrum. More importantly, they give greater opportunities to new market entrants. Beauty contests often favour incumbents with established track records. Auctions are fairer than picking winners, which can be more subjective and less transparent.
To conclude, what we are trying to do is to ensure that the EU maintains its position as the world leader in mobile telephony. The only way to maintain the EU's global lead in this sector is by maintaining a balance between regulation and innovation and not ruling any option out. I believe this report will help us reach this goal."@en1
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