Communications regulator Ofcom has proposed changes to the UK's spectrum usage which it says will allow new mobile broadband services to be created.
The UK could see a whole new set of mobile broadband services if it changes its policy on spectrum usage, according to the telecommunications watchdog.
Ofcom has published proposals which would see the country align its "digital dividend" - the space freed up on the spectrum following the digital television switchover - with other countries in Europe. The spectrum is the range of frequencies at which devices communicate; television gets a slice, mobile phones another, radios a third and so on.
The UK was the first country in Europe to plan a dividend, in 2003. It chose to release two different bands, one of which was between 806 to 854 MHz. However, Finland, France, Sweden and Switzerland decided to release a wider block, at 790 to 862 MHz and Ofcom predicts that others will follow suit.
This has led Ofcom to propose that the UK free up this same frequency as well. The organisation believes that doing so would provide a number of advantages, such as improved mobile broadband and cheaper equipment, as a result of the whole continent using the same frequency.
However, adopting this different band would mean that a number of digital terrestrial television viewers would need to re-tune their set-top boxes, although Ofcom describes this as a "simple procedure that usually takes a few minutes to complete".
Ofcom will release a statement on the issue this summer and aims to auction off the dividend in 2010.
