The GSM Association urged the European Commission to not lift current restrictions that tied specific technologies to individual spectrum bands, taking sides in a battle that pitted the cellular industry against the WiMAX market, an InfoWorld Daily report said.
The report said the Commission, in late June, again discussed its proposal of a new policy, which stated that operators that won spectrum could build networks using any technology they chose.
It was a controversial subject because a similar policy had enabled innovation in the
According to the report, the GSM Association was particularly concerned about how the new policy could affect the 2.5GHz band in
A policy change would create market fragmentation and would drive up the price of equipment because vendors would not be able to standardize their products on the same spectrum around the globe, the GSM Association said.
The 2.5GHz band should be reserved for 3G operators to ensure that new services, like mobile video, could realize their full potential, the group added.
However, similar spectrum was being used in the