European Parliament Seeking 1200 MHz for Wireless Broadband

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At the European Parliament Plenary Session Wednesday the Parliament approved a deal with member states to reallocate radio spectrum freed up by the switch from analog to digital TV for new uses, including wireless broadband. The spectrum under consideration is at 800 MHz, not the 700 MHz TV allocation being discussed at the World Radiocommunications Conference.

Under the deal, the 800 MHz channels currently being used for TV should be made available for wireless broadband in all EU Member States starting January 1, 2013. One goal is to provide common frequency allocations across Europe to benefit users of smartphones and other mobile devices.

The Parliament called for at least 1,200 MHz to be allocated to mobile data traffic by 2015 but did not provide details in its news release Opening up radio frequencies for mobile broadband.


Doug Lung
Doug Lung
Contributor

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack. A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.