Regulation

The European Parliament “strongly endorsed” a proposed Radio Spectrum Policy Programme, which is said to mark “a significant step” toward the more coordinated and efficient use of spectrum in the EU.

The European Commission adopted technical rules on how the 900MHz and 1800MHz frequency bands should be opened to 4G technologies, stating that the move is “an important step to bringing wireless broadband access to more EU citizens and businesses.”

US regulator the Federal Communications Commission said it had begun its procedures related to the planned merger of AT&T and T-Mobile USA, which would create the biggest mobile operator in the country by some margin.

Dow Jones Newswires reports that the auction process for France's LTE spectrum is likely to be launched before early May.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) accepted an order which requires US operators to offer data roaming services to their rivals, on “commercially reasonable” terms and conditions, and “subject to certain limitations.” In a statement, the regulator said that the move will ensure that customers are able to access data services when outside of the coverage of their home service provider.

Regulators these days push wider economic benefits from selling-off spectrum. Even with Europe’s debt levels, no-one dares argue for massive auction returns.

FCC chairman Julius Genachowski used his opening keynote address this morning to focus on the looming ‘spectrum crunch’ in the US, claiming that the consumer market benefit from a fair mobile broadband spectrum policy in the country equates to a value worth hundreds of billions of dollars.