The International Dimension
At the ITU World Radiocommunication conference held in Geneva in 2007 (WRC07), changes were made to the international table of frequency allocations and a new footnote was added co-allocating the band 790 to 862 MHz to the mobile service from 2015 alongside the existing broadcast and fixed service allocations. The focus and priority in Europe has been on making available, as far as is possible in each Member State, a contiguous block of spectrum in the range 790 to 862 MHz (i.e. channels 61 to 69) for other uses including two-way services.
Within the European Union there are two committees that handle matters relating to Radio Communications and Radio Spectrum. They are the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) 
and the Radio Spectrum Committee.
At a European level, the digital dividend and its use is a major policy issue. In June 2008, the European Telecoms Council, following a Communication from the Commission, developed a common position. While emphasising the importance of Member States closely co-operating in coordinating their spectrum usage and identifying spectrum that could be used for broadcasting or released for other uses, the Council stressed the importance of subsidiarity and a non-mandatory approach. In parallel, more detailed work has been ongoing both within various EC committees, such as the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) and the Radio Spectrum Committee, as well as within the CEPT on foot of a mandate from the EC, to identify spectrum that could be released for use by non-broadcasting services such as two-way services (i.e. mobile or broadband) or one-way services such as mobile multimedia. Noting the outcome of this work and taking account of the changes made to the international radio regulations at WRC07, a general consensus is emerging among Member States at EU level for the band above 790 MHz to be considered for two-way use, while the band below would primarily be used for broadcasting but could include some non-broadcasting one-way type services.
The EC Commission are seeking early progress on identifying digital dividend spectrum for services other than broadcasting, as there is a lead time for manufacturers for the development of the necessary equipment. In parallel with the various developments at the European level, various Member States are developing their own plans for identifying spectrum both for retention for broadcasting purposes as well as for release for other uses.