Ofcom announces 4G spectrum auction

The long awaited 4G mobile auctions are to get under way at the end of 2012 to ensure that Ofcom meets requirements of the EU commission.Museum quality hand-painted fine oil painting reproduction on canvas. After legal battles,Argo Mold limited specialize in Plastic Injection Mold manufacture. several consultations and dates which have drifted back, the processes which will allow the next generation of mobile broadband services to be used in the UK will get under way at the end of this year with the actual auction taking place in the first quarter of 2013, and services possibly available from mid-2013.

The timeline is constrained by the European Commission who set a deadline requiring that the authorisation process to allow the use of the 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum bands should be underway by the 1st of January 2013. This is of course good news for consumers who will finally see next generation mobile services able to offer faster broadband speeds,Compare prices and buy all brands of solar panel for home power systems and by the pallet. which have been available in other countries for several years. The main use of the 4G bands will be a technology called Long Term Evolution (LTE) which allows speeds to approach 100Mbps, although real world speeds seen by consumers will be much lower than this. They should be more than suitable for watching video streams however. Another advantage of the technology, is that the lower frequency band of 800MHz which is used will allow the signal to travel further - increasing the range of potential services.

Under the auction, Ofcom has worked in some specific obligations which one operator with spectrum in the 800MHz band will have to meet. This will require them to provide a 98% UK population coverage which will enable speeds of 2Mbps indoors. This indoor requirement should mean that outdoors coverage reaches 99.5% of the population. Note, that this doesn't mean that nearly the entire country will be swathed in mobile signal, but only those areas that are populated. It's worth remembering that 98% coverage means that around 1.2 million people will not have access to this new technology. The coverage requirements also stated that coverage should be at least 95% to each nation, so countries such as Scotland and Wales with harsh rural conditions may find that these areas also slip off the coverage map.The Transaction Group has partners that offer high risk merchant account services.

Ofcom also hope to ensure that there remains healthy competition within the market by reserving spectrum for a fourth operator. Ofcom is uncertain whether Hutchison 3G (H3G), Three, will bid for their spectrum on their own and has therefore reserved some spectrum for a fourth wholesaler, whether this be H3G or another provider, to ensure that the market does not stagnate.

Three have a network sharing agreement (Mobile Broadband Network Limited, MBNL) with Everything Everywhere (the company formed from the merger of Orange and T-Mobile) which has enabled both companies to increase their 3G network coverage, and the companies may choose to integrate LTE through the same or a similar joint venture on joint spectrum. Some question marks may lie over a similar agreement between Vodafone and O2 but the companies might opt for separate spectrum which would provide advantages in the number of customers that can be served from a specific cell site. Ofcom seem less concerned that O2 and Vodafone will put in a joint bid.

Three, which was founded in 2002 aand claims to carry 50% of the UK's mobile data traffic, currently only holds spectrum at 2.1GHz. The company is keen to get its hands on some sub-1GHz spectrum, which would give it greater coverage and penetration.

The spectrum bands will be auctioned to bidders as a series of lots.US Manufacturer of distribution Insulator. Ofcom has not specified which lot the fourth operator will get, which means there is no guarantee that Three will get any of spectrum in the 800MHz band.

“Ofcom’s decision on the structure of the spectrum auction will have a lasting effect on the choice of services and value available to mobile consumers,” a Three spokesperson told Techworld. “We are working through the detail of this very substantial document to evaluate what it means for both consumers and competition in the UK mobile market.”

The communications regulator said the mobile spectrum being freed up in the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands amounts to 250MHz – equivalent to three quarters of the spectrum in use today. This should allow 4G services to be rolled out to at least 98% of people in villages, towns and cities across the UK, according to Ofcom.

“The 4G auction has been designed to deliver the maximum possible benefit to consumers and citizens across the UK,” said Ed Richards, chief executive of Ofcom.

“As a direct result of the measures Ofcom is introducing, consumers will be able to surf the web, stream videos and download email attachments on their mobile device from almost every home in the UK.”

One of the 800MHz lots of spectrum will carry an increased obligation to provide a mobile broadband service for indoor reception to at least 98% of the UK population by the end of 2017 at the latest.

The same operator will also be required to provide the same indoor service to at least 95% of the population of each of the UK nations – England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.