The European Parliament has agreed to make the 700 MHz band available for mobile broadband by 2020. This decision means that there are no regulatory barriers to prevent all Member States to start preparing for the implementation of mobile broadband services for mission-critical communication applications.
The TCCA, global representative for the critical communications industry, welcomes this approval. The decision means that all provisions, technical as well as legal, are now in place for the gradual implementation of a pan-European mission-critical mobile broadband network according to Member States’ national circumstances.
In 2016, the binding technical provisions* were published to establish harmonised technical conditions in the 700 MHz band for Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) mobile broadband services.
Coordinating the release of the frequency band across all Member States is expected to catalyse the development of innovative mobile services across the EU, both for critical PPDR and for areas such as remote healthcare, smart cities and connected cars.
Individual Member States can extend the deadline to 2020 for “duly justified reasons”. TV broadcasting services, currently the main users of the 700 MHz band, will be moved out of it but will retain priority in the sub-700 MHz band, “until at least 2030”.
Phil Kidner, TCCA CEO, said: “Harmonised frequency across the EU can only be a good thing, however we continue to lobby governments to reserve dedicated spectrum within the 700 MHz band to prevent mission-critical services having to compete with consumer services for bandwidth.
“France is currently the only Member State that has allocated dedicated spectrum for PPDR in the 700 MHz band. We are following closely the progress of the Swedish PPDR stakeholders’ recommendation to hold one of the three 700 MHz allocations as a national asset for a future nationwide mission-critical mobile broadband network. There are also positive developments in Norway, where a report to the national regulator clearly recommends taking the needs of PPDR onboard in the licensing conditions.”
*COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2016/687
