The European Commission took a step to boost the market for Wi-Fi access by requiring all 25 European Union member countries to offer the 5GHz frequency band for wireless services. The Commission, the E.U.'s executive body and main telecommunications regulator, announced that all member states would have to make two frequency bands (5159-5350 MHz and 5470-5725 MHz) available for Wi-Fi Internet services from Nov. 1 this year.
Wireless LAN (WLAN) access points using new software from Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) will be able to simultaneously support 802.11g and 802.11a connections using a single chipset, the company said.