(Reuters) - Twelve of the largest European telecoms firms urged regulators on Wednesday to allocate more spectrum for mobile services, warning Europe risks falling behind the U.S. in future 6G deployment.

In a letter seen by Reuters, operators including Britain's Vodafone ( VOD ), Germany's Deutsche Telekom, France's Orange and Italy's TIM demanded the entire upper 6GHz band be made available for mobile networks.

The upper 6GHz band is one of the few remaining large blocks of mid-band spectrum available, as most European nations auctioned airwaves in the 3.4-3.8 GHz range for initial 5G deployments.

This spectrum is ideal for networks that need to handle massive amounts of data while still providing reasonable coverage.

While the United States opened this band for Wi-Fi use in 2020 and China allocated it for 5G and 6G services in 2023, Europe has yet to make a decision on repurposing these frequencies.

"If the decision to make the upper 6GHz band available to European mobile operators is delayed, while U.S. technology interests are permitted to secure further 6GHz capacity, Europe's competitiveness would be threatened," the operators said.

"We remain concerned that access to upper 6GHz band is still sought for Wi-Fi by U.S. stakeholders," they added.

The European Union's Radio Spectrum Policy Group is expected to issue a draft opinion for public consultation on the 6GHz band in June, including advice to the European Commission on the future use of upper 6GHz.

The operators also flagged that current spectrum would not be enough to support existing 5G services and future 6G deployment with rising mobile network traffic.

"Without the full availability of the upper 6GHz for mobile networks, any future 6G services in this band would be significantly curtailed and ultimately jeopardise Europe's opportunity to play a leading role in 6G deployment."

Research and development for the sixth generation of wireless technology is underway.

Experts expect 6G to be commercially launched in the 2030s.