Finland to enable field tests in Cognitive Radio

Ministry of Transport and Communications
Publication date 7.10.2009 12.59
Press release

Finland wants to ensure that its legislation poses no difficulties for the development of Cognitive Radio and thus efficient use of spectrum. The Finnish legislation concerning radio spectrum will be amended accordingly during this autumn. Testing in Cognitive Radio is meant to be started in the beginning of next year.

"It is clear that change is needed and we want to promote Finland's opportunities to be among the leading countries in the development of Cognitive Radio", says Mr Harri Pursiainen, Permanent Secretary at Finland's Ministry of Transport and Communications.

Cognitive Radio is a system that can adapt to the most suitable radio frequency available. This means that spectrum regulation by means of operating licences will no longer be reasonable. While Cognitive Radio devices will be able to find the frequency range they need, flexibility and efficiency in spectrum use will improve.

Finland is known for its advanced spectrum policy: it was the first country in the world to allow 900 MHz frequency range for 3G networks, to open 1800 MHz frequencies for the use of Long Term Evolution technology, and to allocate 792-860 MHz frequencies that became available from analogue television broadcasting to mobile use.

Cognitive Radio is a future version of software-defined radio. It is a smart radio system that can detect available radio networks and frequencies and identify the ideal solution to be used. The greatest benefit of Cognitive Radio is its capacity to use the scarce spectrum resources more efficiently than conventional radio.

Further information:
Mr Harri Pursiainen, Permanent Secretary, tel. +358 9 160 28389, +358 500 787