The European Commission late last week moved to open up spectrum in the 1452 MHz-1492 MHz band for mobile broadband services with a particular view to adding downlink capacity.
The decision, published on Friday, adds another 40 MHz of harmonised spectrum for mobile broadband services, while at the same time protecting the bands’ existing usage for terrestrial digital audio broadcasting (T-DAB), the Commission said in a statement.
A large part of the band (1452 MHz-1479.5 MHz) was harmonised for T-DAB in 2002, but very few services currently occupy it.
The new decision forms part of a 2012 commitment to free up 1200 MHz of spectrum for mobile broadband by 2015.
In a study last year, the European Commission showed that the 1452 MHz-1492 MHz band is not used efficiently across European member states and as such recommended that it be harmonised for mobile broadband.
The Commission once again highlighted the importance of freeing up spectrum to support predicted growth in mobile data traffic.
One way of addressing this is through supplemental downlinks (SDL), or the creation of an additional downlink-only channel to boost data speeds for end users.
The Commission’s decision includes technical conditions for mobile broadband use as downlink-only.
"SDL in the 1452 MHz-1492 MHz band can be used in conjunction with the aggregation of several frequency bands for their simultaneous use by operators," the Commission confirmed.
Member states have six months to make the spectrum available.
