The European Commission agreed on Tuesday to postponements for Spain, Cyprus, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Austria, Poland, Romania and Finland as regards the use of the 800 MHz band for wireless broadband.
According to a press release issued by the Commission, member states have provided further evidence of why radio spectrum needs to be assigned with greater co-ordination across the European Union. Half the Union’s member states have requested to postpone the use of the 800 MHz band for wireless broadband due to exceptional reasons, missing the 1 January 2013 they had originally agreed to (see IP/10/540). The Commission reluctantly granted nine of the 14 requests today.
The Commission refused derogations for Slovakia and Slovenia where the delays were due to the organisation of the authorisation process and not to exceptional circumstances preventing the availability of the band.
Greece, Latvia and the Czech Republic require additional evaluation. Belgium and Estonia were late but have not asked for a derogation, while Bulgaria has notified the continued use of the band for public security and defence purposes. Opening up the 800 MHz band is an essential for expanding use of popular wireless broadband services.
European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes said that "we have agreed to temporary and limited 800MHz derogations for nine countries. This is a pragmatic and final concession. Every delay in releasing spectrum hurts our economy and frustrates citizens. That is why spectrum reform will be a centrepiece of the Commission’s September proposal for a telecoms single market."
One consequence of member state delays is that phones considered to be essential devices by citizens are not fully functional in Europe. Phone manufacturers leave out the appropriate radio chips needed to connect in Europe because not enough countries have licensed the same spectrum on time.
The 800 MHz band is part of the “digital dividend”, the spectrum freed up by the transition from analogue to digital television technology. In particular, this frequency band has the potential to support wireless broadband throughout an entire country, including remote and rural areas. So far, only eleven Member States have announced that they have effectively allowed the use of the 800 MHz band for wireless broadband communications. They have done so on the basis of the technical usage conditions specified in the 2010 EC Decision to harmonise the 800 MHz band.
