S.I. No. 416/1994:

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (CO-ORDINATED INTRODUCTION OF PUBLIC PAN-EUROPEAN CELLULAR DIGITAL LAND-BASED MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS -- GSM) REGULATIONS, 1994.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (CO-ORDINATED INTRODUCTION OF PUBLIC PAN-EUROPEAN CELLULAR DIGITAL LAND-BASED MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS -- GSM) REGULATIONS, 1994.

I, BRIAN COWEN, Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972),and for the purpose of giving effect to Council Directive No. 87/372/EEC⁽¹⁾ hereby make the following Regulations.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Co-ordinated Introduction of Public Pan-European Cellular Digital Land-based Mobile Communications -- GSM) Regulations, 1994.

2. In these Regulations, except where the context otherwise requires:

"the Directive" means Council Directive No. 87/372/EEC of 25 June, 1987;

"the Minister" means the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications;

"a public pan-European cellular digital land-based mobile communications service" means a public cellular radio service provided in each of the Member States, conforming to the European Telecommunications Standard (ETS) developed by the GSM (Group Special Mobile) Technical Committee of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), and where users provided with a service in one Member State may also gain access to the service in any other Member State.

3. ( a ) With effect from 20 December, 1994, the frequency bands 900-915 MHz and 945-960 MHz are hereby reserved exclusively for the co-ordinated introduction of a public pan-European cellular digital land based mobile communications service.

⁽¹⁾O.J. No. L.196 of 17 July, 1987, pp. 85-86.

( b ) The frequency bands 890-900 MHz and 935-945 MHz shall stand reserved exclusively for the co-ordinated introduction of a public pan-European cellular digital land based mobile communications service in accordance with plans to be made from time to time by the Minister.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 8th day of December, 1994.

BRIAN COWEN,

Minister for Transport, Energy

and Communications.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations are made to give effect to Council Directive No. 87/372/EEC on the frequency bands to be designated for the co-ordinated introduction of a public pan-European cellular digital land-based mobile communications system -- GSM in the Community. This Directive concerns the exclusive designation of the frequency bands 905--914 MHz and 950-959 MHz or equivalent parts of bands 890-915 MHz and 935-960 MHz for GSM. The Directive acknowledges that some interim analogue cellular systems operate in the bands 890-915 MHz and 935-960 MHz. The Directive requires that initially 2 x 9 MHz from the total 2 x 25 MHz must be available for GSM, and that the remainder of the 2 x 25 MHz must be cleared according to commercial demand. With effect from 20 December, 1994 the frequency bands 900-915 MHZ and 945-960 MHZ are hereby reserved exclusively for GSM. The frequency bands 890-900 MHz and 935-945 MHz shall stand reserved exclusively for GSM in accordance with plans to be made from time to time by the Minister.

The public cellular radio service provided in each of the Member States must conform to the European Telecommunications Standard (ETS) drawn up by the GSM (Global System Mobile) Technical Committee of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), i.e. I.S./I-ETS 300020-1:1993 -- I.S./I-ETS 300045:1993 (inclusive).⁽²⁾

⁽²⁾ I.S. is the Irish Standard and is a transposition of the ETS (European Telecommunications Standard).