EU rules on 700 MHz: technical issue or power grab?

The European Commission is trying to convince EU countries that they should commit to some coordination in the assignment of a specific set of radio frequencies, after it failed to garner support for more broad, common rules.

While this week's proposal on the coordination of the 700 megahertz (MHz) band may sound very technical – and the details of the plan are – it deals in essence with the question of how much power 'Brussels' should have.

The radio frequencies, or spectrum, are...