EU says 3G on GSM now the law

The European Union claims to have cleared the path for an expansion of wireless broadband across Europe and saved the economy by officially mandating the opening up of the GSM band for new mobile services.

The move, detailed in the EU's Official Journal and therefore now law, will allow 3G phones to use GSM frequencies, effectively overhauling the now 22-year-old GSM Directive.

In fact, the change was actually put into practice back in July. Nevertheless, the printing up of the latest Official Journal gave Brussels the change to bang the drum again, claiming it will enable Europe to keep its technological edge, save the industry capital costs of €1.6bn and speed the rollout of wireless broadband.

The latter, claims the EU, is "one of the drivers of the EU's economic recovery". Hmm, maybe. We think sorting out toxic assets and a busted banking system might be useful as well.

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