EC to push for more mobile spectrum

On Sept 20, the European Commission (EC) will ask the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers to make a ruling that will force member states to allocate the 800MHz spectrum to wireless broadband services, for use with mobile devices. The deployment deadline would be 1 January, 2013.

The plan is for all countries to reassign the 800MHz 'digital dividend' spectrum sub-band -- which comprises the 790-862MHz portion of the radio spectrum -- from television broadcasting to wireless broadband services, as member states make the switch from analog to digital broadcasting services. The pan-EU decision will aim to adopt more coherence in spectrum allocation in Europe, making sure that a fair share of the digital dividend for the switch from analog to digital broadcasting goes to wireless broadband.