Following your above-referred letter, the Portuguese Administration reiterates its opinion, expressed in the Forum, that the issue of free circulation of terminals is an important one in the overall aim to allow worldwide provision of GMPCS, but it does not ensure by itself the possibility of operating in every country.
In fact, there are other important prerequisites for the licensing of those systems at the national level which in our view should be also subject to international cooperation under the scope of the MoU. It is for example the case of legal interception, interconnection and interoperability issues.
We think furthermore that some principles should be established concerning the use of open standards and technical specifications for the approval and manufacturing of terminals and gateways, enabling a worldwide competitive supply of those equipments in the benefit of the users and service providers of GMPCS.
In short and concerning the draft MoU, we would like as a minimum
to see the review clause (Article 5) more specific, for what
we would propose to replace the word "periodically"
by the word "annually" so that a clear timetable
is established for the discussion of the inclusion in the scope
of the MoU of other issues beyond the free circulation of terminals.