EC readies European satellite wireless spectrum

Companies that offer satellite-based services including mobile data, mobile TV, disaster relief and remote medical services will soon be able to do so across the whole of Europe, after the European Commission announced it was harmonising radio spectrum throughout the continent for this purpose. On Thursday, the Commission launched a competition for service providers that want to address the whole European market. By doing so, the Commission hopes to make it more economically viable for satellite services to be developed and rolled out by operators, as they will no longer have to deal with differing spectrum in different countries. "Mobile satellite services have the tremendous advantage of being able to cover most of the EU's territory thereby reaching millions of EU citizens across borders," said Viviane Reding, the telecoms... [read full story]