28 July 2000
On 27 July, Autorité de régulation des télécommunications (ART) organised a mobile Internet round table in which participated representatives of sector players: mobile network operators, fixed network operators, service providers, professional and user associations.
The purpose was to analyse and determine the conditions necessary for the development of mobile Internet in France, and more specifically, to discuss issues raised by the WAP protocol.
Discussions showed that the problems posed by the development of this new market in order to meet user demands involved many issues: terminals, network architectures as well as the relations to be established between operators and service providers. It is also important to keep in mind the arrival of GPRS then UMTS in the near future.
These questions will be examined in greater detail by ART and will be discussed at new round table meetings in the fall.
At the close of the meeting, Jean-Michel Hubert, ART Chairman, reminded participants that the purpose of these discussions is to encourage the development of the market and to meet the visibility requirements of participants, while protecting consumers' freedom of choice.
ART's goal is to lay down guidelines based on an analysis of the mobile Internet market and to inform players in order to encourage innovation and market growth.