We know there’s demand for data and we know there’s increasing levels of frustration surrounding the topic of 4G in the UK.
Will we ever get 4G in this country?
The next-generation mobile internet has been delayed by Ofcom because the four network providers cannot see eye-to-eye on the matter.
And today, UK MPs have criticised mobile operators for this squabbling over how the spectrum is to be divided.
BBC News reports that John Whittingdale MP, Chair of the Committee, commented: “Ofcom has had a very difficult job adjudicating between competing and polarised interests, and we are concerned that constant disagreement and special pleading from the four mobile network operators appears to have further delayed the spectrum auction.
“We believe that the basic rules for the auction which Ofcom has laid down are sensible and fair, and that further delays will result in the UK falling further behind in this vital area. The auction needs to proceed as soon as possible.”
The UK is set to be one the last of the big European economies to sell 4G spectrum, and Ofcom is hoping to hold the 4G auction in mid-2012.
There’s are two types of spectrum up for grabs at the 4G auction. One is the TV spectrum, currently used for carrying the analogue signal. This won’t be free until the end of 2012 when the digital switchover has taken place. The good thing about this spectrum is its low frequency which allows it to travel further and its ability to penetrate buildings.
Then there’s Long Term Evolution (LTE) which is set to improve mobile internet capacity. The US already uses LTE and has average connection speeds of 7Mbps – compared to the UK average speeds of 2.1Mbps, The Guardian points out.
The difficulty is that O2 and Vodafone are unhappy about the terms being offered to Three, namely that as it lacks a 2G network it can get a portion of the 4G spectrum at a “minimum price”. Ofcom allowed O2, Vodafone and Everything Everywhere to reuse its 2G spectrum for 3G offerings – and there is now “concern that the proposed spectrum sale by Everything Everywhere may result in the company making a substantial profit from a public asset that was granted to it for free.”
So the squabbling continues.
There are fears that the UK won’t get 4G until 2014 at this rate. After all, the BBC states that “even if everything goes to plan, consumers won’t see any 4G services before 2013. By then the mobile operators could be struggling to cope with the torrent of data from all those video-watching, game-playing, web-surfing smartphone and tablet users.”
Meanwhile the US, Sweden and Germany are already rolling out 4G networks and the UK is left behind.
All four operators are meeting with Ofcom and the government over the coming weeks – and let’s just hope they can sort out their differences quickly so we can soon benefit from faster mobile data speeds in the UK.
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