UN conference agrees to free bandwidth to meet mobile demand

16/11/2007 by swordfish.

The United Nations body charged with coordinating global broadcast frequencies said on Friday it has agreed to free up more space to meet growing demand from mobile and broadband services.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) agreed on a new treaty setting out a spectrum of frequencies to be used by international mobile services, which it said should help bridge the “digital divide” between rich and poor countries.

Under the treaty, various parts of the broadcasting spectrum will be allocated specifically to mobile communications, including the 698-862 Megaherz (MHz) band in the Americas and major Asian countries such as China, Japan and South Korea. The 790-862 MHz band will be allocated to the same services in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and other Asia-Pacific countries, the ITU said in a statement.

The overlap will allow mobile operators to use fewer base stations to transmit their signals.

The new guidelines give industry and individual countries the flexibility to decide their own priorities and make best use of new technologies, the ITU said.

The UN’s trade and development agency last year said broadband should be considered a utility as important as water or electricity, such is its importance to economic progress in poorer countries.

Source: Yahoo News

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