In a move that echoes calls earlier this year by the European commissioner, Viviane Reding, the European Parliament has backed measures to help create a pan-European wireless broadband service. This decision by EU politicians should simplify the rollout across Europe of services, such as wireless Internet and mobile TV, utilising spectrum previously occupied by analogue TV and radio broadcasts.
Reding had asked for this UHF spectrum to be allocated for WiMAX mobile broadband use once the analogue broadcasts had been phased out. However, a statement from the EU parliament only called for some parts of this UHF spectrum to be reserved so that the same types of services could work across Europe.
Separately, Alcatel-Lucent said it was one of the companies selected by Spain's Neo-Sky to deploy a turnkey WiMAX 802.16e-2005 (Rev-e) network in Madrid, enabling the Spanish broadband operator to test and accelerate the deployment of WiMAX services in Spain.
The company said the contract called for it to supply WiMAX base stations and access controllers, together with an IP IMS, application platforms and end user terminals. Alcate-Lucent confirmed it would also provide design and planning for Neo-Sky's network.
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