batesie
Joined: Feb 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: London, UK
PM |
The European Union's executive arm proposed on Wednesday to open radio frequencies allocated exclusively for GSM mobile phones to other wireless technologies such as high-speed third generation (3G) mobile data.
The proposal to free access to the 900 MHz to 1,800 MHz frequencies would make it easier and cheaper for mobile operators in the 27-nation bloc to offer wireless technologies, the European Commission said in a statement.
The wireless communications industry estimates the move, if backed by EU governments and lawmakers, may allow it to achieve cumulative cuts in capital expenditures of up to 40 percent in network costs over five years, the Commission said.
"In the EU, we must remove regulatory barriers and facilitate the deployment of mobile communications by allowing new technologies to share spectrum with existing ones," EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding said.
The proposal would abolish 20-year-old EU legislation that allocated the 900 MHz to 1,800 MHz frequencies to operators of the older mobile standard GSM.
"It is out of date as it prevents more advanced, next generation wireless technologies from using the spectrum currently reserved for GSM services," the Commission said.
In a strategy for radio spectrum unveiled earlier this year, the Commission said it wanted frequencies not needed by mobile phone operators, or those freed up through the switch to digital broadcasting, to be opened to other businesses.
The EU executive also wants to talk to member states, most of which regulate the distribution of spectrum to businesses, about how that allocation process could be made less restrictive.
Collectively, the industry using radio spectrum earned between 240 billion and 260 billion euros ($331.4 billion to $359.1 billion) last year, the Commission estimated
Source: Reuters UK
[addsig] |
Posted: 2007-07-25 17:05
