IHS Global Insight Perspective | |
Significance | The European Union sees MSS as key to providing high-speed Internet, mobile TV and radio or emergency communications to consumers and businesses in the bloc. |
Implications | Satellite operators Inmarsat and Solaris Mobile have also been asked to intensify their efforts to forge agreements with domestic operators to accelerate the provision of MSS services. |
Outlook | The satellite operators say negotiations with the operators have proved laborious, as interest in the provision of mobile TV via MSS wanes. |
The European Union has called on its member states to remove legal obstacles to the rollout of a pan-European mobile satellite services (MSS) network. The European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, has written to 21 member states that have yet to adopt regulation to facilitate the European satellite system, which was earmarked to be deployed in May this year.
The EU selected satellite specialists Inmarsat and Solaris Mobile to provide pan-European MSS in May 2009, following an EU agreement in 2008 that pan-EU deployment of MSS should be in place by May 2011 at the latest, to provide high-speed internet, mobile TV and radio or emergency communications to consumers and businesses in the bloc.
The countries targeted have all received a letter urging them to remove remaining legal uncertainties and to put in place without delay all necessary implementation measures, and have been named as Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
Outlook and Implications
- MSS is Key to EU Digital Agenda: As well as being key to the delivery of high-speed internet, mobile television and radio, the EU sees MSS as key to ensuring innovative communications services reach rural and remote areas, as part of the EU's Digital Agenda of providing broadband access to everyone in the bloc by 2020. However, nearly 20 months after the commission selected the two operators to provide pan-European MSS, the member states have yet to adopt the regulation needed to facilitate rollout, such as setting licence fees for domestic operators providing access to the network.
- Satellite and Domestic Operator Deals Slow to Emerge: The operators selected—Inmarsat Ventures and Solaris Mobile—have also been asked by the EU to intensify their efforts to forge agreements with domestic operators to accelerate the provision of MSS services to the end user. The EU has issued satellite S-Band licences to the operators in 2009, with frequencies in the 1.98- to 2.2-GHz bandwidth, with the proviso that their networks would be up and running in two years (see Europe: 15 May 2009: EU S-Band Licences Awarded to Inmarsat and Solaris). The companies claimed at the time they could cover 84% of EU territories, including 26 of the 27 member states (excluding Cyprus). However, in October 2010, Solaris said it had detected an anomaly in the development of the antenna, meaning the projects were further delayed. However, the satellite operator also said negotiations with telecoms operators and broadcasters have proved to be more laborious than anticipated, as interest in the provision of mobile TV via MSS wanes. France Telecom recently identified MSS as an alternative to fibre-optic rollout in remote regions, as part of its strategy to bring broadband services to the whole country, but the operator has yet to sign a concrete contract with a satellite provider for MSS.
- MSS Yet to Take Off in Europe: While satellites are being deployed to address network capacity issues in less developed regions such as Africa (see Sub-Saharan Africa: 17 February 2011: ), and is widely used to provide pay-TV services in Europe, MSS has yet to take off in the bloc. Some satellite communication services are already available at higher frequencies in Europe, chiefly via "sat-phone" services, but the equipment required is often cumbersome and expensive, meaning its use is largely limited to geographically isolated regions where it is the only alternative. Meanwhile, the EU has awarded more than EUR1 billion (USD1.4 billion) in contracts to roll out the Galileo satellite navigation (SatNav) system, which will provide an alternative to the US Global Positioning System, or GPS (see Europe: 8 January 2010: EU Awards USD1.4 bil. in Contracts to Launch Galileo Navigation System).