Thursday, July 26, 2007

EU seeks more radio frequencies for wireless services — EUbusiness - EU business, legal and financial news and information - EUbusiness.com

The Commission wants EU radio spectrum rules to be changed so that operators could offer such services at the 900 and 1800 megahertz frequencies currently reserved for voice calls under the 1987 GSM law.

By bringing down the cost of offering third-generation mobile services, the Commission hopes that companies would be encouraged to develop such technologies, which have found little popularity so far.

The use of lower frequencies would also give third-generation services broader geographical coverage, which would likely boost their popularity as well.

"Radio spectrum is a crucial economic resource which must be properly managed across Europe to unlock the potential of our telecoms sector," said EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding.