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July 8, 2008

Last week, the European Commission has published new regulations for the 2.6 GHz frequency wireless band that could open up new possibilities for its use.

The proposed new regulations would open up the 2.3 GHz, 2.6 GHz and 3.5 GHz frequencies for the use of Mobile Wi-MAX devices and applications.

The Commission's decision is to let the market decide which technology to deploy in the band, determine the most appropriate use of the spectrum and create market opportunities through opening the spectrum even more.

According to a statement “the 2.6 GHz decision affords European Union administrations to make decisions in relation to the technology, services and usage that can be deployed within the band. It also offers administrations more flexibility over the balance of paired (FDD) and unpaired (TDD) spectrum that can be awarded to wireless operators and provides the essential technical framework.”

In February, the commission adopted a regulation that would make the frequency band available for IMT 2000/UMTS.

Tim Hewitt, director of regulatory and spectrum policy for the WiMAX Forum said "the acceptance of the 2.6 GHz decision provides a great deal of regulatory clarity for administrations. The EU administrations can now justifiably, and with the knowledge they are backed by the full weight of European Union policy, question the now inappropriate ECC Decision (05)05, which is holding back the development of a fully competitive European mobile broadband market.”

With the new 2.6 GHz regulations now in place, EU administrations can now proceed with spectrum awards for this band as a matter of ultimate priority.

The Wi-MAX Forum Subscriber and User Forecast Study projects that in less than four years from now, there will be more than 133 million WiMAX users globally and approximately 70 percent of forecasted WiMAX users will use mobile and portable WiMAX devices to access broadband Internet services.

Currently, there are more than 305 deployments of WiMAX services in 118 countries worldwide.

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Source: The Wi-MAX Forum.