The 27 ministers for telecommunications in the European Union (EU) gave approval on 27 July to the European Commission (EC) Directive to revise the GSM Directive (directive from 1987 which reserved certain radio frequencies in the 900 MHz band for GSM services), with the European Parliament giving its approval to the measure back in May.
Updating the GSM Directive will enable new technologies to coexist with GSM in the 900 MHz band, such as UMTS (3rd generation mobile telephony), which has already been demonstrated as being compatible. The new provisions of the Directive will also enable the allocation of spectrum at 900 MHz to be adapted so as to allow the use of 4th generation high-speed broadband technologies. The EC believes that this greater flexibility will lead to greater competition in the European telecommunications market and will allow savings of around 1.6 billion Euros.
The updated GSM Directive is due to enter into force in October 2009.
Further information:
- EU frees new spectrum for new and faster mobile services http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/1192&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
