An agency under the United Nations asked telecom regulators to allocate the 700-megahertz band for mobile broadband use to help bridge the digital divide.
The Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union said using the 694-790 MHz frequency for mobile broadband would bridge the digital divide worldwide and would benefit handsets, supply chain, roaming, rural coverage and other aspects of mobile communications.
The UN specialized agency for information and communication technologies formally moved to allocate the 700 MHz band to the global mobile industry at the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference in November.
“The WRC-15 decision represents a landmark in the development of broadband mobile on a worldwide scale, regardless of location, network or terminal used,” said ITU secretary-general Houlin Zhao.
The ITU decision will pave the way for manufacturers and mobile operators to offer mobile broadband at affordable prices in currently underserved areas.
The 700-MHz spectrum has been a contentious issue in the Philippines, as local telecommunications firms are all pushing for a share of the frequency.
San Miguel Corp. currently holds 90 percent of the 700-MHz spectrum across the country, but both Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company and Globe Telecom asked the National Telecommunication Commission to distribute the spectrum evenly among industry players.
Ray Espinosa, PLDT head of regulatory affairs, earlier said the company would lobby directly with President Aquino on the issue, and that its external legal team was preparing to launch legal action against NTC, San Miguel and any of its partners unless the spectrum was shared.
Globe general legal counsel Froilan Castelo said giving active and operating telecommunications companies access to the 700-MHz spectrum would allow the industry to provide broadband and data services at faster speeds and in a more cost-efficient manner.
Castelo said that as early as 2005, Globe already requested the NTC in writing for an allocation and assignment of frequencies within the 700-Mhz and 800-Mhz bands for broadband wireless network, but NTC did not act favorably on its request.
The ITU’s move on the 700-MHz spectrum is supported by the joined by London-based GSM Association, which said that tapping the unused 700-MHz mobile frequency spectrum could potentially increase the impact of a country’s gross domestic product by tenfold.
The group’s Mobile Economy Asia study also found that the full use of the spectrum had the potential to create an additional 2.1 million jobs for the Asia-Pacific region by 2020.
