Proposition 52K2401

Projet de loi portant modification de l'article 30 de la loi du 13 juin 2005 relative aux communications électroniques.

General information ¶

Submitted by

CD&V Leterme Ⅱ

Submission date

Feb. 3, 2010

Official page

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Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

waveband mobile phone quasi-fiscal charge telecommunications transmission network

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

CD&V LE PS | SP Open Vld N-VA LDD MR FN VB

Abstained from voting

Groen Vooruit Ecolo

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

Feb. 25, 2010 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

I will be very brief because the meeting was also very short.

On 10 February, the Infrastructure Committee unanimously approved the draft law on communication concerning GSM licenses. It was so that Belgacom obtained a free license through a silent extension. This will be avoided by this bill in the future.

The draft law aims at a single tax for the different frequencies. We already have three 2G licenses and the possibility of a fourth 2G license. We already have a 3G license. Now optimum exploitation is provided to further complement this for the 3G license, as well as for the 4G license.

Mr. De Grootte and I have also asked how the division of powers with the regions is regulated, since the media is a regional competence. The question was how it is with the distribution of the tax if one can watch television on the GSM. Apparently that is not a problem and there is also a consultation with the Regents on the subject on 12 March.

There was also an intervention by Mr Deseyn, with a number of technical aspects and the requirement to pay specific attention to a number of aspects when implementing in the Royal and Ministerial decrees, such as the new technological developments and the requirement not to speculate in the sale of the licenses.

A number of technical amendments were also approved at the proposal of Mr Deseyn, as well as an amendment for the urgent procedure and the entry into force on an earlier date, precisely to avoid Belgacom from using its license free of charge.

Until then the report.

Mr. Deseyn, I know that you are on the speaker list before me, but can I first clarify our position?

Ms Plasman asks whether she may first clarify the position of her group. However, you are the chairman of this assembly and I leave it to you to decide on the order of speakers. (the approval of)

Thank you, colleague Deseyn.

In the meantime, we have received new information. Despite the fact that our group agreed to the bill, we will still have to abstain based on that new information. In the implementation of the present bill, it is important, in my opinion, that many new licenses will be granted.

In a very recent article in the European Railway Review, it is stated that the GSM-R system, the safety system of the European railways, which we already talked about in connection with the train accident, problems are feared of interference with the new technologies. This is, of course, a very important point, which Minister of Quickenborne did not address in the committee. No questions were asked, but he did not cite the subject itself. Since he is not present at the moment, he cannot answer, unless someone else knows the technical elements of the matter.

The article makes it clear that there is a real danger of interference, because the GSM-R system is a very sensitive system. This must be avoided. Therefore, our group asks the government to thoroughly investigate through the BIPT whether this is the case for Belgium. If that is the case, we ask that public operators ⁇ not give frequencies that would interfere with the GSM-R system. Therefore, we will abstain from voting.

The proposed draft law is very important. It wants to create space for a fourth mobile operator and it wants to correct and repair things from the past. We cannot speak directly to the Minister, but the experts of the Cabinet are present.

However, we must remind you that because of the minister’s forgetfulness — he forgot to withdraw the GSM licenses — Belgacom on 8 April 2010 receives its GSM license for five years free of charge. That was a problem. In 1995, Belgacom had paid 223 million euros for its GSM license. Our group is absolutely not in favour of a free policy. The problem was that the GSM licenses contained a clause of silent extension. By not terminating those licenses in time, the Minister gave the licenses free of charge for five years to Belgacom and consequently also to the other two mobile operators. Afterwards, of course, attempts have been made to correct that mistake, but the Brussels Court of Appeal on 20 July 2009 granted Belgacom the right.

Therefore, we must wait for the draft law to be able to correct it. Given the impact on the budget and the deadline of 8 April, the urgency was asked here. I would also like to thank Ms. Plasman for her report.

This text was logically unanimously approved. If we had not made a good closing arrangement, then it would ⁇ be clear at that point that the state treasury generates a lot of income. It is a matter of hundreds of millions of euros. That is the financial gap.

There is also the technological gap. The entire substrate of the logistical pillar of telecommunications is also important in our economy.

I hope we have a legally conclusive solution. There were last minute text changes. For this we must be discouraged. I hope that we have done a good job, because we also know how the operators react. They are quite eager to go to court. A expensive law firm becomes very inexpensive in light of the amounts that one could or could not save out when something is not legally fully closing arranged. You will undoubtedly still remember the attempt by Freya Van den Bossche to raise a tax at Suez.

I hope that the minister has made agreements with the sector, and that there has been an ex ante pax telefonica. In order to avoid unpleasant surprises, the game has been played completely transparently, in the sense that the revenue to be derived from this draft has in no way been registered in the 2010 budget. If the operation is fully successful, it can only have a positive turn on the budget level.

Ms. Plasman has said that we cannot immediately question the minister about this. The explanation in the committee was also extremely summary. Per ⁇ we should repeat it again with a few targeted questions in the committee. I would like to add to it.

The minister was very honest in the committee. He has said: to quote the philosopher Witgenstein: "What one cannot talk about, about it one must be silent."

He was very consistent with his own principle. It was not an unfair amount. That was the notorious Twitter commission, colleague Plasman. Afterwards we could read live testimonies on the internet. We knew why it was so joyful when the bare feet were also posted on Twitter.

I don’t know if it has to do with his internet use. It was an I-Phone. I do not know if the State Security after that commission has pointed out the possible disclosure of public information by government members. This was not so much about a state secret, but about the nature of the information for which a certain form of censorship was requested.

President: Patrick Dewael, President

President: Patrick Dewael, President

So I come to another very important point. Since November 2008, it has been silent in the Flemish ether. The entire spectrum was released by shutting off analogue television via the ether. Wallonia will follow this point only in 2011. Last year I questioned the Minister repeatedly about the digital dividend, as well as in the committee following the discussion of this draft. It is very important to know the strategy and the status of the file. In this, we are objective allies of the Minister. However, the time passes. The Flemish spectrum has been dead since 2008. Here we must make the most of the opportunities for our companies and allow them to innovate on the basis of the freed spectrum. I hope that the Minister will quickly come to concrete decisions and agreements.

Flames live in a small language area. In the freed spectrum, there should be sufficient space for Flemish content, for media of own ground.

Broadcasts and Flemish content, that should not be a fetish. I am in favor of allowing the vast majority of the spectrum to be filled freely and neutrally, not linked to any specific technology, device, service or content. Telephone, Internet, data and television are increasingly converging and are available through more and more different technologies and devices. I hope that the Minister at that point can make quick and concrete decisions, whether or not accompanied by photographs of bare feet.