Ofcom has announced plans to auction more spectrum in late 2015 or early 2016 in a bid to meet the growing demand for 4G LTE.
Ofcom said it will sell off more spectrum in the 2.3GHz and 3.4GHz bands, which are currently being used by the Ministry of Defence and are suitable for providing “very high data capacity”. Ofcom also noted that a number of smartphones, including the iPhone 6, HTC Desire and Samsung Galaxy handsets, already use the 2.3GHz spectrum to offer 4G in other countries, such as China and Australia.
The 3.4GHz band is currently being used for 4G wireless broadband in six countries including the UK, Canada and Spain.
Philip Marnick, Ofcom spectrum group director, said: “Today marks an important step in ensuring that the UK has sufficient spectrum to support our wireless economy. “It comes in response to the fast pace of change and innovation taking place in the communications sector, which is placing increased demands on how spectrum is used by all industries. “One important way of meeting this demand is making new spectrum available and its use as flexible as possible.”
Ofcom said that it expects to raise between £50m and £70m from the spectrum sale, and that it has limited operators’ spectrum holdings to 37 percent in order to “promote competition”. A report from OpenSignal earlier this week claimed that 4G speeds in the UK have halved in the past 12 months, highlighting the need for more capacity.
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