TRA to release 700MHz, 800MHz band for mobile broadband

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has announced plans to allocate spectrum in the 700MHz and 800MHz bands for mobile broadband services, in a bid to drive down costs in the United Arab Emirates and minimise interference along borders. The regulator said that by combining the 800MHz band plan for Europe, the Middle East and Africa with the lower duplexer (2×30MHz) of the Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT) 700MHz band, the UAE will be able to reap the benefit of both bands to support affordable network rollout, thereby benefiting more of the population with mobile broadband connectivity. ‘By maximising the spectrum for mobile broadband in harmony with the growing economies of scale for both bands, the TRA decision will enable nearly global interoperability and roaming,’ commented H.E. Majed Al Mesmar, deputy director general for the telecommunications sector, adding: ‘The UAE is predicting a rising demand for global harmonisation of the APT 700MHz band benefiting in the growing ecosystem of devices from Asia Pacific across the Middle East and Africa, through to Latin America.’ The UAE 700MHz band will utilise the lower duplexer of the APT 700MHz band (2×30MHz) as a base line with the possibility for additional 2×10MHz for more spectral efficiency and for Public Protection and Disaster Relief applications, while 5MHz has also been considered for direct mode operation.