EU wants key mobile broadband spectrum opened by 2013
Looks for harmonized approach to digital dividend, Council of Europe addresses neutrality
Published: 21 September, 2010
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The European Union has outlined its proposals for harmonizing digital dividend spectrum and releasing greater capacity for mobile broadband.
The EU's executive body, the European Commission, proposes that all member states should complete the issuing of mobile broadband licenses by the end of 2012, as part of a five-year plan to make more spectrum available, on a harmonized basis across the region, for high speed services. This deadline would apply to auctions or other allocations in the 900MHz, 1.8GHz, 2.5GHz and 3.4GHz-3.8GHz bands, where these have not yet been issued. The EC also wants a deadline of January 2013 for the 800MHz digital dividend frequencies, but in reality, the pace at which this spectrum is being freed up varies greatly between countries.
Germany is the only nation to have made the former analog broadcast spectrum available for broadband so far, while the UK regulator Ofcom aims to hold its auction by the end of 2011, covering 2.6GHz and 800MHz, and possibly other bands.
The proposal says all the spectrum should be managed "on the basis of principles including spectrum efficiency and flexibility, technology and service neutrality and competition", while the trading and sharing of licenses will also be encouraged.
The EC says that mobile broadband services are "essential" to achieve universal broadband, a key objective of its Digital Agenda for Europe. The Commission is targeting 30Mbps broadband coverage for all EU citizens by 2020, using a combination of wireless, fiber and DSL, and with half of households subscribing to 100Mbps services in the same timeframe. Although the EU has one of the highest levels of broadband take-up in the world, only 1% of citizens have fiber to the home, compared to 12% in Japan and 15% in South Korea.
Meanwhile, the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), meeting in Lithuanian capital Vilnius, has adopted a proposal from the Council of Europe to draft a 'treaty' that would legally define the internet principles of open standards, net neutrality and freedom of speech and expression, as well as protecting the net from political tampering. The IGF is a support body for the United Nations, and the Council of Europe is an organization of 47 EU and non-EU states based in Strasburg, with the aims of defending human rights, democracy and the rule of law around greater Europe.
The proposed treaty would cover 12 principles of internet governance. There would be international co-operation to keep the internet free and non-discriminatory while working against security problems and cybercrime. The treaty would define and uphold in international law the right to "freedom of expression and association" and codify the basic principle of net neutrality, said the Council.
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