The triennial meeting, which started in Geneva on June 9 and is due to conclude on Friday (July 4), has also managed to negotiate resolutions relating to wireless aeronautical services and fixed satellite networks. It has also developed suggested frequencies for wider-band public protection and disaster relief applications.

Nearly 190 countries are represented at the conference — organized by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)— which has 44 major issues on the agenda, most related to global radio regulations, including spectrum rules.

The allocation of extra spectrum in the 5 GHz range was seen as one of the trickiest for the conference to resolve. A draft resolution has been forged, allocating the 5.150 to 5.350 MHz and 5.470 to 5.725 MHz for wireless access systems, including WLANs, the group said.

Once the agreement achieves final plenary approval, 100 MHz of spectrum (5.150-5.250 GHz) will be allocated for indoor WLAN use, while an additional 355 MHz is set aside for mixed indoor/outdoor use (5.250-5.350 GHz and 5.470-5.725 GHz).

The deal effectively endorses a February agreement among various U.S. agencies and telecommunications industry, including the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), NASA and the Pentagon to allocate 255 MHz of additional spectrum for wireless LAN use under coexistence rules which protect existing government users of the 5 GHz band.

Atheros Communications, a leading supplier of chip sets for multifrequency WLAN use, welcomed the deal. "The agreement in Geneva is a defining moment for the WLAN industry as a whole," said Craig Barratt, president and chief executive officer of the chip supplier.

"The decision means that the universal 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g networks that Atheros supports will offer access to nine times as many non-overlapping channels as 802.11b and 802.11g-only networks in the U.S., and seven times as many non-overlapping channels in Europe.

"This generous portion of additional spectrum, negotiated among WLAN industry players including Atheros and various governments, ensures the future scalability of wireless LAN technology for current and future solutions. The global allocation in Geneva will provide adequate spectrum for high capacity public and private wireless networks free of interference problems that limit the use of available bands."

Veena Rawat, conference chairman, said "a number of extremely important, but delicate issues have been settled" during the conference. However, he added, "intense activity is going on to resolve other difficult issues."

A resolution has been agreed to that should pave the way for the deployment of new technologies for wideband and broadband public safety and disaster relief applications. Currently most such networks use narrow bands that can only handle voice and low data rates, typically in channel bandwidths of 25 KHz or less. The new rules mean these data rates will be substantially increased, initially in the range 384 to 500kbit/s for wide-band solutions, and 1-100Mbit/s for applications using broadband technologies.

Governments are being urged to consider three identified frequency bands or ranges for disaster relief applications, and manufacturers are being encouraged to take these allocations into account in future equipment designs, including the need to operate within different segments of the identified bands.