UK delays auction again, as Motorola trials LTE
Published: 3 February, 2009
READ MORE: UK | Motorola | LTE
In the wake of the UK government's Digital Britain proposals, unveiled last week, regulator Ofcom has confirmed it plans to open up a wider band of 'digital dividend' spectrum than it had previously announced, but this will delay the auction by a year.
Yesterday, Ofcom said it would bring its spectrum plans in line with the rest of Europe when it auctions the frequencies that will be vacated by the transition of broadcasters to digital TV spectrum. It previously planned to free up spectrum in a range from 806MHz to 854MHz, but will now offer the whole 790MHz to 862MHz band as earmarked by most EU countries. The freed-up band will be able to be used for mobile broadband, mobile TV and new digital TV services, among other applications, and will be technology and usage neutral.
The cost of changing the UK allocation to harmonize with the EU is estimated at £90m to £200m ($135m to $300m), to be borne by the new licensees, the government, or both. The auction will now take place some time in 2010, instead of late 2009 as planned.
There is also widespread speculation that Ofcom will also delay the auction of 2.6GHz licenses too. It has already postponed its sale twice, from an original date of late 2007, most recently because of legal challenges from T-Mobile, which claims existing operators cannot make a fair estimate of the value of the airwaves until rules on GSM refarming are clarified. The UK's sale has been particularly closely watched because it is seen as a major opportunity for a WiMAX operator to gain valuable 2.6GHz spectrum, rather than all the licenses going to an LTE carrier - with wireline incumbent BT widely expected to bid, and to favor 802.16e.
Motorola has been one vendor carrying out WiMAX trials in the UK, in anticipation of possible activity by BT or other operators like Freedom4. Now the supplier is also looking towards LTE, launching a trial network and technology center at its UK base in Swindon, western England. According to Techworld, Motorola has conducted a "live, over the air, standards compliant LTE call during which high speed data services were streamed using Motorola's LTE infrastructure operating in the 2.6 GHz spectrum and a prototype LTE device." The test is designed to encourage stepped-up testing by UK operators, in advance of Motorola's release of LTE equipment for 2.6GHz and 700MHz late this year. Motorola is also offering a hosted service, managing the core elements of the network.
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