The excellent characteristics of radio frequencies below 1GHz, including the Digital Dividend bands, place a great deal of demand on this segment of the ‘airwaves’. Of course, the Digital Dividend allocation to mobile is only a small portion of the overall UHF spectrum, but it is rare to find any of this spectrum unused.

Across Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia, a number of other services have existed in this space prior to mobile broadband. The overwhelming economic benefit generated from mobile broadband has made the decision to clear the Digital Dividend bands for mobile use relatively straightforward for governments. In this section, we outline some of the issues that countries have faced, and how these have been overcome.