Europe could wave goodbye to 3G before 2G disappears, the GSMA has claimed, as operators look to refarm existing holdings to feed growing LTE data usage.

Spectrum is the lifeblood of the mobile industry, with operators ever eager to get their hands on more. But a former Ofcom executive has claimed that instead of suffering from a bandwidth deficit, huge amounts of their holdings go unused every day.

Freeing up 700MHz spectrum for operators' use will be one of the European Commission's priorities for the Digital Single Market in 2016, according to an EC vice-president.

French regulator Arcep has signalled an end to current roaming agreements within the country, after launching a consultation into network sharing.

Ericsson, Qualcomm and Red Technologies have launched what they claim is the "most technically extensive pilot" of licensed shared access (LSA) technology, using spectrum provided by the French Ministry of Defence.

Nokia and Qualcomm have co-founded a new organisation aiming to enable LTE connectivity from unlicensed wireless spectrum.

The UK faces a spectrum crunch if it cannot resolve numerous threats including lack of supply, tensions between industries and the public and private sector, and an increasingly globalised market, the UK Spectrum Policy Forum has claimed.

Ofcom has postponed its upcoming auction of 2.3GHz and 3.4GHz spectrum in the UK following threat of legal action from the owners of O2 and Three UK. 

The GSMA has hailed the outcome of the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) as a "major step forward" for the telco industry, after it identified three bands for mobile broadband use.

Operators across Europe will be able to take advantage of the 700MHz band, after the ITU allocated the spectrum for a globally harmonised solution.

The GSMA has reiterated its demand that mobile operators should be given sub-700MHz spectrum, but attacked "misinformation" suggesting it is calling for an end to traditional broadcast TV.

Free Mobile and Orange were the big winners in the French 700MHz spectrum auction, which raised €2.8 billion.

The spectrum situation is becoming increasingly desperate for mobile operators as more users demand more speed for more intensive services.

Governments and regulators need to do more to support the telecoms industry by freeing up spectrum and helping with the roll out of coverage, the Rotating CEO of Huawei has claimed.

Nokia will trial Artemis Networks’s pCell tech with mobile operators as part of a new partnership between the two companies.

The GSMA has called on Asia-Pac to “align with the rest of the world” so that L-band spectrum can harmonised for mobile services.

Five operators were deemed winners in the Romanian auction of 3.4GHz and 3.8GHz spectrum, which raised more than €10 million.

T-Mobile Czech Republic is aiming to switch off its 3G network by 2020, as it looks to free up resources to feed long term data demands.

Resolving spectrum is the critical priority on the road to 5G, EE has claimed, as BT said education remains key for the nascent virtualisation market.

Ofcom is not placing a cap on spectrum purchases in its forthcoming auction, which will see public sector bandwidth freed up for mobile industry use.