EU wants former mobile spectrum opened up

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission renewed its efforts on Tuesday to free up radio frequencies used by broadcasters, mobile phone operators and navigation businesses.

In a new strategy for radio spectrum, the Commission said it wanted frequencies not needed by mobile phone operators, or those freed up through the switch to digital broadcasting, to be opened to other businesses.

The EU's executive also wants to talk to member states, most of which regulate the distribution of spectrum to businesses, about how that allocation process could be made less restrictive.

"Europe must fully exploit the potential use of certain spectrum bands by new wireless products and services, so as to encourage market development," EU Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding said in a statement.

"We seek to provide new opportunities for industry through less restrictive regulatory conditions that strengthen competition and increase consumer choice. However, this is a gradual process which will not happen overnight," she said.

Radio spectrum users include airplane and ship guidance systems, satellites and the defense industry, as well as telecom operators and broadcasters.

Collectively, the industry using spectrum earned between 240 billion and 260 billion euros last year, the Commission estimates.

It believes that introducing a market-based approach to the way frequencies are allocated could yield 8 billion to 9 billion euros more, though it did not specify whether this gain would be through savings, profits or in revenues.

The Commission has before advocated what it called a "single market" for radio spectrum, which would harmonise the regime of allocation across the EU's 27 member states.

At the moment the responsibility for spectrum allocation lies either within ministries of national governments or regulators such as Ofcom in the UK.

The Commission will propose an overhaul of its telecom rules by July to keep up with the pace of change in the industry and a debate is likely on how to manage spectrum, especially for cross-border technologies.

MOBILE SATELLITE TV

Separately, a Commission decision harmonised the use of radio spectrum for advanced satellite services to mobile devices such as TV services to cell phones, according to a statement released on the Commission's Web site.

"This decision will give industry the necessary confidence to invest in such services. They may now even reach remote areas, where previously it was uneconomic to deploy," the Commission said.

Analysts were surprised the EU executive chose DVB-S, one of the outsiders in the race to set a standard for mobile TV, beating rival technologies DVB-H, DMB and MediaFLO.

"This was one of the more fringe technologies, but EU Commissioner Reding has always said it would support any technology that can cover all member states," said Neil Mawston at market research group Strategy Analytics.

Alcatel-Lucent, the main initiator behind DVB-S mobile broadcast technology, was content that the Commission had chosen a technology and that the laws and authorisation could be in place by the end of 2008, enabling consumers to access services throughout Europe on the same, single device.

"This EC decision is a major milestone for the success of Mobile TV across Europe," said Olivier Coste, president of Alcatel-Lucent's mobile TV activities.

DVB-S, also know as DVB-SH, combines satellite broadcast systems, local repeater radios in built-up areas and third-generation mobile telephony for ubiquitous broadcast coverage and interactive Internet broadband services.

(Additional reporting by Lucas van Grinsven in Amsterdam)