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Following EE’s 1800MHz 2G to 4G licence swap, Ofcom’s been reviewing current mobile network licensing. It seems the UK mobile regulator has come to the conclusion there’s no reason other network providers can’t do the same. Could we suddenly see a load more 4G networks before the official 4G auction finishes?
It seems, following requests from Three and Vodafone, Ofcom’s going to “liberalise all mobile licences in the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz bands to permit the deployment of 4G services” essentially allowing reuse of existing mobile network spectrum for 4G LTE. That’s exactly what EE did to enable its 4G service last year.
“We propose in this consultation: to liberalise all mobile licences in the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz bands to permit the deployment of 4G services (where such licenses have not already been liberalised). This will align the permitted technologies across all mobile spectrum licences, including the existing licences at 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz and the licences to be awarded by auction in the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands. This will meet a long standing objective to liberalise all mobile licences so that there are no regulatory barriers to the deployment of the latest available mobile technology”
Of course, what this really means is Ofcom’s starting a consultation on the process of 4G licence swaps. In reality, it’s looking at removing the restrictions on mobile licences to produce just one licence to broadcast cellular services across particular bandwidth chunks, rather than specifying whether one is to be used for 2G, 3G, or 4G. That certainly makes sense to me, simplifying the whole thing.
How long this consultation process will take, we don’t know. It’s likely to take as long as the 4G auction, though, and it would probably be in EE’s best interest to try and delay it as long as possible. After all, it wouldn’t want to lose its 4G monopoly any sooner than it has to.
The overall impact for us, the punters, will probably be better 4G coverage, and a convergence of the mobile networks’ technologies. We could see a time, very soon in fact, where 2G networks are essentially switched off, making way for better 3G and 4G coverage and capacity. More capacity means faster data, and that can only be a good thing, right? It’s not like people make calls anymore anyway. [Ofcom]
Image credit: Mobile mast from Shutterstock
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3G allows for voice, so switching off 2G wouldn’t remove calling function. Unless I missed the point of your last sentence?
You’ve looked at it the wrong way round, he is suggesting that people use their phones for data more than calling so having a larger capacity on 3G would be better, as 2G doesn’t offer data.
He is not suggesting voice would be affected.
Fair enough, I wasn’t sure if I was misinterpreting it. Cheers!
unless you got the Motorola razar maxx type of phones (3000mha battery), 3g and 4g can suck and i find 3g is unreliable for voice calls (calls not connecting to my phone randomly)
turning off 2g be bad idea as most GPS trackers use 2g only as its very low power use (and most are an copy of an copy of another copy “china) that would make a lot of issues
What do you mean 2G doesn’t offer Data? I’m 100% certain GPRS and EDGE are 2G. Switching off 2G seems like a good idea for people who live in large areas, I live in a rural part of Northern Ireland where 2G is the norm. Networks just don’t see a benefit of spending more money on 3G cells in areas like mine. 2G will still be around for many years.
Good idea. I don’t get why Ofcom care what people broadcast on their licensed spectrum and why EE had to go begging. As far as I would care, if I’ve bought the unique license to broadcast on 1816.7-1876.7MHz, what does it matter to Ofcom whether I’m using my spectrum allocation to broadcast TV/Internet/Radio/GSM/2G/3G/4G? Surely the whole point of licensing is that I only broadcast on the spectrum I’m licensed to do so, and no-one else broadcasts on my licensed spectrum. Does it really matter what it is I use that spectrum to broadcast?
That said, it’ll be down to the mobile operators on what they want to keep running as the lowest common denominator… not many people have a nice Inmarsat in their glovebox, but I wonder how many GSM-only ‘glovebox phones’ there are still floating around…
all GPS trackers use 2g only so it would be an problem for them if all the networks started shutting down 2g coverage
i leave my phone on 2g all the time phone lasts 2-3 days and all my phone calls work (3g, randomly calls can not connect to my phone and battery life is dropped to an day)
if phone makers would Slap in an big battery as standard (as they need to when 4g comes) you need to be plugged in at least 2 times a day
F*@king dinosaurs! Why didn’t they do this earlier so we could have had this at the same time the rest of the world did?