Mobile Meetings Series: Spectrum: embracing greater access to mobile broadband

Mobile delivers major – and growing – socio-economic benefits to Europe which will be restricted without effective spectrum policy at EU level. The growing adoption of data services has become the major source of traffic since 2010 and the proliferation of high-end handsets, tablets and others, on mobile networks is a major traffic generator. These devices offer the consumer the potential higher quality and thus more data heavy content, for that reason data traffic on mobile networks is skyrocketing. To take advantage and enjoy the full breadth of online socio-economic benefits, European citizens should have access to reliable and ubiquitous mobile broadband. The availability of such access depends largely on the supply and availability of spectrum for mobile services. Spectrum is the bedrock of the mobile industry and without it; the mobile industry cannot deliver the benefits of the digital market to Europeans.

The legislative period from 2015 to 2020 will be critical for spectrum policy in Europe. The EC has proposed an ambitious Digital Single Market Strategy, whose second pillar rests on spectrum. All the while, several key existing policies will be under review such as the Telecoms Framework and the Radio Spectrum Policy Program. Moreover. The European Commission is also working on the development of a long-term strategy on the UHF and accelerating its work on 5G. In addition to those, the EC has been developing, in coordination with Member States the common policy objective for the upcoming WRC-15 while work on the TSM has entered the final stage of the legislative process. Actions and decision taken in those areas in the next few years will have a significant impact in the medium and long-term across the continent.