TCCA Welcomes EU Approval for Mobile Broadband at 700 MHz

This 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, which will open the 700 MHz band for mobile broadband services no later than 2020 – extended to 2022 in some special cases. The EPP Plenary 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 will 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.

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.”