The European commission plans to remove limits on how mobile phone firms can use their networks, in a move that could finally bring services such as video calling and mobile TV to rural areas.
Viviane Reding, EU telecoms commissioner and scourge of the operators over their high overseas "roaming" charges, wants to scrap an "outdated" 1987 EU directive that restricts access to the lower band (900MHz) of the radio spectrum to traditional mobile communications.
The change would allow mobile phone companies to use their old, or 2G, networks to run new 3G services. At the height of the dotcom boom the UK's five networks spent £22.5bn buying licences to run 3G services, but take-up has so far been slow.
3G services run over a higher frequency part of the spectrum than traditional mobile phone services. Signals do not travel far from 3G phone masts, making it uneconomical to bring the technology to remote areas. Only 80% of the British population will ever get access, with the bulk of coverage in metropolitan areas.
The commission's move would allow mobile operators to put 3G technology on their existing spectrum. Mobile masts using this bit of the airwaves can transmit signals much further. It would also improve 3G coverage within buildings.
Ofcom plans to consult the industry on so-called "re-farming" of the 2G spectrum in the autumn and a decision on how to do it could be reached as early as next year.
New entrant 3, however, only has a 3G network, which it has spent billions of pounds building. It wants the original four operators - O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone - to be made to share their old 2G spectrum so 3 can also use it for 3G.
Ms Reding's move is a response to the GSM Association, the operators' global lobby, which estimates that freeing up the 900MHz band - and the other legacy part of the mobile spectrum at 1800MHz - could increase 3G network coverage by 40% and enable 300 million extra EU consumers to use the service.
The operators could reap a benefit 10 times higher than the loss they will incur through the imposition of binding roaming charges, Ms Reding's aides said. They also suggest the move could reduce bills.
Source: Guardian.co.uk