UK puts plans for e-Europe at top of EU Presidency agenda
The UK will use its forthcoming presidency of the EU to push for strong initiatives for interoperable and collaborative e-business and e-government solutions across Europe, as well as seeking to liberalise the telecommunication industry. Speaking at a recent conference on e-business, Nigel Hickson, head of European ICT (Information and Communication Technology) policy and regulation at the UK's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), said that the DTI is determined to be a force for change within Europe's information technology (IT) infrastructure, policy control and regulation. 'There is still some work to be done on improving the single market, liberalising telecommunications, implementing some parts of the e-commerce Directive and ensuring the interoperability of government services,' said Mr Hickson. In order to achieve this, the UK intends to push through the full implementation of the telecommunications package of 2003. As Mr Hickson explained: 'what is the point of having laptops that only work on broadband if you are taking them to a country where it is inaccessible?' A full implementation of the package would consolidate regulation in communications across the EU and provide a level playing field for competition, believes Mr Hickson. The Presidency will also deal with the launch of i2010, Internet governance and preparation for the 2006 review of the telecommunications package. i2010, the brainchild of EU Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding, has the overall aim of encouraging the use of ICT in both the public and private sectors, an objective the DTI is strongly in favour of. According to Mr Hickson, the DTI also believes that telecoms infrastructure needs to be updated along collaborative lines due to the disparity across Europe in terms of connection speeds through dial-up and broadband over ADSL, cable, wireless and fibre. 'We aim to improve regulation by reducing, harmonising and collaborating across all aspects,' he concluded.
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