Ofcom Allows 4G Across Spectrum

Ofcom, UK’s radio spectrum managing company, has made an important step in its delivery of 4G mobile services across the country. The next generation of broadband services is here. Ofcom’s auction was successful and competing companies have started to deliver improved mobile broadband (4G).

Ofcom has given network operators the possibility to use the spectrum’s for 2G, 3G and 4G. A handset that is 4G-ready can thus work with other networks and not only with EE. For the moment though, EE is the only operator to provide consumers with 4G mobile services. The auction effects will be complete as the other competitors join in. The focus is on the 1800MHz Vodafone spectrum and the 800MHz one. Running 4G on the latter one signifies that the customers will be enjoying the indoor coverage level that they hoped for. Last year, EE got the permission to provide 4G services using the existing 1800MHz bandwidth.

After a total of 50 bidding rounds, the spectrum winners are: Everything Everywhere Ltd, Niche Spectrum Ventures Ltd, Hutchinson 3G UK Ltd, Vodafone and Telefonica UK. As expected, the result is promoting a renewed spirit of competition. Besides the innovation, this is expected to lead to lowered prices and to a better coverage. The total of auctioned spectrum was of 250MHz. The spectrum liberalisation led by Ofcom allows operator using now the 2G and 3G spectrum to use it for 4G services as well in future.

4G enables faster communications – greater web surfing speeds on mobile phones, similar to home broadband. Mapping services and GPS are especially enhanced through this. The indoor coverage is estimated to raise at 98%. Ofcom believes that the consumer surplus over the coming 10 years will be of £20 billion. The new infrastructure along with all added benefits (new software, more jobs, new mobile revenues) will make an important contribution to the country’s economy.