The European Commission wants pan-European Mobile Satellite Services to be deployed more quickly. It’s adopted a formal decision that allows it to coordinate the efforts of EU Member States to accelerate the commercial deployment of these services and, if necessary, to enforce this action.
Inmarsat Ventures and Solaris Mobile were selected by the Commission in May 2009 to provide mobile satellite voice and data services throughout the EU. The original timetable agreed that Mobile Satellite Services should be deployed in all EU Member States by May 2011 at the latest.
Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda, said “We gave the two selected operators two years to deploy their systems. The time has now come for effective enforcement. Either operators deliver on their promises, or the spectrum which they have available, which is a scarce resource, should be used in other ways.”