UMTS in 900/1800 MHz

On July 27th, the Council adopted the review of the GSM Directive to allow UMTS in the 900 MHz frequency band. The updated Directive will be signed by the Presidents of the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers in September and be published in the EU's Official Journal. At the same time, the Commission
will adopt a Decision, which will enter into force on the same day as the updated Directive, setting out the technical measures allowing for the co-existence of GSM (2G mobile phones) and UMTS systems (3G phones that add high-speed mobile internet to regular phone ervices) on GSM frequencies in line with the Directive.

This is expected to trigger further refaming of the frequencies by NRAs.