E-Plus authorised to use 900MHz spectrum for data services

German mobile operator E-Plus has received permission from the Federal Network Agency (FNA) to use frequencies in the 900MHz band for mobile data transmission services, teltarif.de reports, citing E-Plus spokesman Guido Heitmann. E-Plus, which is a subsidiary of Dutch telecoms group KPN, first acquired 900MHz spectrum in February 2006, but could only use those frequencies for voice services. The telecoms regulator has now authorised E-Plus to construct 25 900MHz base stations, covering 40 communities with around 100,000 inhabitants in the rural areas of Pfalz, Mecklenburg and Untermark. The German operator plans to use the 900MHz band for mobile data services to support its UMTS network, which is based on 1800MHz frequencies. Heitmann stated that E-Plus will first deploy a HSPA+ network using the 900MHz spectrum, offering maximum download speeds of 21.6Mbps. E-Plus – the only of the country’s mobile operators which failed to secure spectrum in the 800MHz band in the FNA’s May 2010 mobile frequency auction – can also use the 900MHz frequencies to rollout Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, if this does not cause interference with other mobile networks.