Plans to set up mobile forum

Date: 08/03/01

Telecoms chief Erkki Liikanen will next week announce plans for a forum of member states and the Commission to coordinate national policies on mobile telephony in a bid to reduce chaos in the sector.

This follows concerns that a hotch-potch of national regimes - with some governments giving away licences for third generation services while others are selling them for billions of euro - has imperilled the EU's world-lead in the mobile sector.

"We want to see how we can improve things," said a Liikanen aide, adding that the idea would be aired at this month's Stockholm summit.