Industry CEOs Set Sights on "3rd Wave Mobile for Europe"

The CEOs of fourteen key industry players set out a common vision to support and sustain the rollout of mobile networks and services across Europe. The joint proposal calls for action on research, standards, content, security, spectrum, international co-operation and regulation by both the industry as larges as well as by the European Commission and by EU Member States.


Companies represented in the discussion included Alcatel, Bertelsmann, LM Ericsson, Orange,
Hutchison 3G, Nokia, Royal Philips Electronics, Siemens, ST Microelectronics, Telefónica Móviles,
Telecom Italia Mobile, T-Mobile International, Vivendi Universal and Vodafone Group.


Erkki Liikanen, the European Commissioner for Enterprise and the Information Society, agreed that "the mobile sector is critical to Europe's competitiveness and future prosperity," and said that "as we move towards a converged environment it is essential that we harness the capabilities of all technologies to deliver growth."


The group noted that the number of mobile subscribers in Europe increased at a higher rate in 2003 than in 2002 (6%) and 81% of EU citizens now have a mobile telephone. The forecast for global handset sales is approx. 430 million in 2003.


There are currently over 500 000 subscribers of 3G services in Europe, with 3G services in five (including Sweden and Denmark) of the 15 Member States. Over 40 3G networks will be launched in Europe over the next 12 months, according to GSM Europe. http://europa.eu.int