As Web use rapidly increases and available space remains limited, the European Commission is pushing reluctant telecoms companies to share the radio frequencies they use for mobile and broadband services. Many companies that own parts of the radio wave spectrum consider that ownership to be one of their most valuable assets and so, have been reluctant to share.
As a finite resource, spectrum can only carry a certain amount of traffic. A company with licenses for adjacent parts of spectrum can carry more traffic, while a company with parts separated by a piece owned by someone else cannot carry as much traffic. However, as the demand for improved data services for smartphones and tablet computers continues to grow, such a division of resources is not optimal.
In some countries, steps have already been taken to insure that companies that do not own spectrum can still market mobile services by negotiating sharing deals with those that do. The European Commission has stepped in to discuss and mediate some of these deals, with the hope that these negotiations will spur an increase in trading of spectrum rights.
