14 DAY TRIAL // As the telecommunications systems develop, the enforcement of laws and standards to regulate their operation is becoming increasingly important.
And one of the most important initiatives in this field belongs to the European Union, which has decided to support the WiFi communications, by imposing a common standard to all 25 members. Thus, the European Commission announced that all member states would have to make two frequency bands (5159-5350 MHz and 5470-5725 MHz) available for WiFi Internet services from November 1 this year.
The new frequencies will enable WiFi service providers to offer a greater range of services and avoid capacity shortages on the current 2.4GHz standard, as for example standard transmission rates starting at 54Mbps, which is currently the theoretical maximum rate for 2.4GHz devices, many of which still offer only 11Mbps.
There are currently 120 million WiFi users worldwide, including 25 million in Western Europe, according to figures quoted by the Commission. But this number is expected to rise to around 500 million over the next three years.