At the European Parliament Plenary Session Wednesday the Parliament approved a deal with member states to reallocate radio spectrum freed up by the switch from analog to digital TV for new uses, including wireless broadband. The spectrum under consideration is at 800 MHz, not the 700 MHz TV allocation being discussed at the World Radiocommunications Conference.

Under the deal, the 800 MHz channels currently being used for TV should be made available for wireless broadband in all EU Member States starting January 1, 2013. One goal is to provide common frequency allocations across Europe to benefit users of smartphones and other mobile devices.

The Parliament called for at least 1,200 MHz to be allocated to mobile data traffic by 2015 but did not provide details in its news release Opening up radio frequencies for mobile broadband.