4G from all major networks by the middle of 2013

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Smartphone and tablet users will have access to super-fast 4G services by the end of next year after the telecoms regulator unveiled plans for the UK's largest ever auction of airspace for mobile services.

It will give access to the fourth generation, or 4G, network, to at least 98% of people across the UK, which will allow users to download data - such as music and high-definition films - at much faster speeds, Ofcom said.

The auction will offer the equivalent of three-quarters of the mobile spectrum currently in use - some 80% more than released in the 3G auction which took place in 2000.

The minimum sum of proposed reserve prices for the whole 4G auction is £1.4 billion - but it is expected to raise much more after the 3G sale pulled in a staggering £22.5 billion from mobile companies.

Ofcom said it expects the auction process to start before the end of this year, with prospective bidders required formally to apply to take part. Those applications will then be assessed by Ofcom before the bidding phase starts, likely to be in early 2013.

Mobile operators are expected to start rolling out 4G networks using the auctioned spectrum from the middle of 2013, and to start offering 4G services to consumers later that year, Ofcom added.

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

"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."

Ofcom decided to reserve a minimum amount of spectrum in the auction for a fourth operator on top of the three biggest mobile companies - Vodafone, 02 owner Telefonica, and Orange and T-Mobile firm Everything Everywhere.

The new auction will offer at least two spectrum bands - 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz. The lower frequency 800 MHz band is ideal for widespread mobile coverage, while the higher frequency is ideal for delivering the capacity needed to deliver faster speeds.
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So going off this, the next crop of 2013 Smartphones will feature 4G connectivity :)

Edit
My bad toward the end of next year.
 
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The new entrant (*COUGH* 3) spectrum options are 1.15 of this document: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/award-800mhz/statement/statement.pdf It makes me laugh they did this, originally three had basically been blocked from buying 4G spectrum (they could still opt not to buy i should note) but i guess everyone needs a bone now and then. It's possible that 3 may for example, just buy bandwidth off EE if they didn't want to buy a spectrum license.

3.16 holds the current spectrum table if you're interested.

In short, you need pairs (why everything is in 2x) due to how the technology works but the width (in Mhz here) relates to capacity. Not all frequencies were made equal and as the document states, they are all worth different amounts. Lower frequencies travel further, but they carry less data. Vice-versa for higher frequencies.
 
The full press release:

July 24, 2012

Spectrum sale will be 80% bigger than 3G
Mobile broadband to cover at least 98% of UK

The largest ever auction of spectrum for mobile services in the UK is set to get under way by the end of 2012, Ofcom announced today, laying the path for next-generation 4G networks to be rolled out next year.

The auction will offer the equivalent of three quarters of the mobile spectrum in use today – some 80% more than released in the 3G auction which took place in 2000.

The plans should see mobile broadband rolled out to at least 98% of people in villages, towns and cities across the UK. This will be achieved through 4G, the fourth generation of mobile technology, which will deliver much faster mobile data speeds to phones and other wireless devices than presently possible.

Ofcom has confirmed its decisions on the auction, including measures that will see next-generation mobile broadband become available to nearly everyone in the UK, creating substantial benefits for citizens and consumers.

To ensure that UK consumers continue to benefit from a competitive market, Ofcom has also decided to reserve some of the available spectrum for a fourth national wholesaler other than the three largest mobile operators.

Ed Richards, Ofcom Chief Executive, said: "The 4G auction has been designed to deliver the maximum possible benefit to consumers and citizens across the UK.

"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."

New mobile capacity

The 4G auction will offer at least two spectrum bands – 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz. The lower frequency 800 MHz band is part of the 'digital dividend', which is ideal for widespread mobile coverage. The higher frequency 2.6 GHz band is ideal for delivering the capacity needed to deliver faster speeds. These two bands add up to 250 MHz of additional mobile spectrum, compared to 333 MHz in use today.

This combination of low and high frequency spectrum creates the potential for 4G mobile broadband services to be widely available across the UK, while offering capacity to cope with significant demand in urban centres.

Promoting competition

Ofcom has concluded that UK consumers are likely to benefit from better services at lower prices if there are at least four credible national wholesalers of 4G mobile services.

Therefore, in the interests of competition, Ofcom has decided to reserve a minimum amount of spectrum in the auction for a fourth operator. This could be either Hutchinson 3G or a new entrant altogether.

Coverage obligation

The spectrum bands will be auctioned to bidders as a series of lots. One of the 800 MHz lots of spectrum will carry an 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 800 MHz spectrum is well suited to providing high levels of coverage, and we anticipate that imposing the obligation on one operator will drive other operators to extend their own coverage in response.

Given that it is easier to provide coverage outdoors than indoors, a network meeting this obligation is likely to cover more than 99% of the UK by population when outdoors.

Ensuring good coverage in the nations

In addition to this UK-wide coverage obligation, Ofcom has decided to require that the same operator provides the same indoor service to at least 95% of the population of each of the UK nations – England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Outdoor coverage for a network meeting this obligation is likely to be 98-99% of the population of each nation.

Next steps

Ofcom intends to hold the auction as soon as possible. Alongside today's statement, it is publishing a draft of the legal instrument which implements the auction rules and gives effect to our decisions. This is subject to a statutory consultation closing on 11 September 2012.

Ofcom expects the auction process to start before the end of this year, with prospective bidders required formally to apply to take part. Those applications will then be assessed by Ofcom before the bidding phase starts, likely to be in early 2013.

Mobile operators are expected to start rolling out 4G networks using the auctioned spectrum from the middle of 2013, and to start offering 4G services to consumers later that year.
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Interesting that they think they'll raise more than the 3G spectrum sale, didn't nearly everyone regret paying so much for it? The operators were unable to build attractive services on it and the money they had to recoup meant that general data access from phones took a long time to come down to a reasonable price.
 
Great news on the 800mhz range, shame it's by 2017 though, hopfully rolled out faster, so parents can finally get decent Internet.

I'm betting it'll be delayed again though.
 
bam0 said:
Interesting that they think they'll raise more than the 3G spectrum sale, didn't nearly everyone regret paying so much for it? The operators were unable to build attractive services on it and the money they had to recoup meant that general data access from phones took a long time to come down to a reasonable price.
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And apart from 3 all other phone compaies give you a maximum of 1Gb per month, which is complete joke in 2012
 
robgmun said:
And apart from 3 all other phone compaies give you a maximum of 1Gb per month, which is complete joke in 2012
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Quite, we can only hope that they end up paying less this time otherwise we'll end up in the same situation. And we're already years behind other countries getting 4G up and running.
In fact I'd rather Ofcom did some more work looking into why 3G isn't more widely deployed. That I still see a 2G signal so often on my phone nowadays is ridiculous.
 
oh well..my contract is up on saturday as was wondering if I should just get a pay as you go sim in my desire HD and wait and see what turns up later in the year, but may as well just jump in and get another contract on a new phone,,by the time it hits mainstream I will be ready for another new contract
 
bam0 said:
Interesting that they think they'll raise more than the 3G spectrum sale, didn't nearly everyone regret paying so much for it? The operators were unable to build attractive services on it and the money they had to recoup meant that general data access from phones took a long time to come down to a reasonable price.
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I read that the auction method meant they all overpaid by a huge amount. Basically because they had no way of knowing how much the licences were actually worth. They all kept bidding because their competitors were bidding so they assumed the others valued the licences higher.
 
It depends how you look at it in all honesty. It was a requirement to keep being competitive from the networks point of view so it was a requirement to continual service and growth. Sealed bid did make it... problematic but the licenses run until 2021 so it's not hard to see it as an OK deal.

The licenses will cost more this time around but thats natural, 4Bn in 2000 is almost 5.5Bn now using a quick inflation calculator. Infrastructure did cost a lot (especially early in the decade) but long term, each operator I'm sure is glad they paid it considering the last 3 years of growth.

Voda are probably smarting a bit from paying so much though, 50% extra for such a small bit of extra bandwidth.
 
As usual we are well behind in this country, I'm guessing won't be fully rolled out for years after as operators will upgrade more in demand areas first and slowly roll out the rest.

I experienced LTE in America and my god is it fast. Speeds over 20MB and just like being on WIFI all the time.
 
It's quite disappointing being in London. Although the speeds might not make much difference for everyday use, email, browsing etc in many places the 3G network is so saturated moving at least some people onto 4G where they aren't competing directly for the same bandwidth (at least only on the backhaul) would allow better performance for everyone.
 
As with everything speed related where I live I'll believe it when I see it.

1mbit landline.. So no point in femto cell
2g on all networks
H 3g on 3 (only signal is near window ).. 2-3mbit

I don't expect anything more for 5+ years

I'm on 3 network I sacrifice signal for speed
 
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