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Monday, 19 November 2007 |
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ITU agreement on global allocation of broadband wireless spectrum.
Last week saw the conclusion of the World Radiocommunication Conference 2007 (WRC-07), in Geneva, held under the auspices of the ITU, the UN’s specialised agency for telecom. The shindig lasted nearly a month, attracting more than 2,800 delegates from 164 Member States, although I am never quite sure why we are supposed to be impressed by such overblown numbers.
Yet the WRC-07 did at least appear to conclude with a success, in the form of a revised treaty on international spectrum usage. This paves the way for spectrum to be harmonised a global basis, relating principally to UHF spectrum. Effectively, it opens up new chunks of spectrum for global wireless broadband use, relaxing today’s grip on such frequencies by terrestrial broadcasters.
Dr Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General of ITU, expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of the Conference: "WRC-07 represents a major landmark for the future growth of the ICT industry, and everyone will benefit from the digital dividend that will emerge as a result of this Conference."
A note of caution: the ‘digital dividend’ joins the ‘digital divide’ in the lexicon of international soundbite politics in telecom. The latter has scarcely been bridged in 10 years of global effort; why should the former be shared any more evenly?
Jim Chalmers
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