The European Commission has approved technical rules on how the 900 and 1800 MHz radio frequency bands should be opened up to 4G services. Building on the existing GSM Directive, the decision sets out technical parameters allowing for the co-existence on the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz frequency bands of GSM, UMTS, LTE and Wimax services. The decision sets up a mechanism for the adoption of technical harmonisation rules based on input received from national radio frequency experts. National administrations have until 31 December 2011 to implement the decision into their national rules so that GSM bands are effectively made available for LTE and Wimax systems. In 2009, technical studies were undertaken to demonstrate that LTE and WimAX could safely coexist with the other systems already using the same bandwidth. These studies also clarified the technical conditions under which the systems using the 900 and 1800 MHz bands will be able to protect systems in neighbouring frequency bands, such as GSM for railways and aeronautical services, from interference. Member states are obliged to give appropriate protection to systems in adjacent frequency bands.
