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UK Operator Granted Permission to Offer LTE Services in 1800Mhz Bands
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UK based Everything Everywhere has been granted permission to reuse some of its existing 1800Mhz spectrum for LTE services after waging a fairly intensive PR campaign to support its application.
The move could give the company, which owns the Orange and T-Mobile networks in the UK a head start in deploying commercial LTE services over its rivals who are waiting for the delayed LTE license auction to start next year.
In a statement explaining its decision, the telecoms regulator, Ofcom ackowleged that the company would gain a competitive edge, but concluded that "any such advantage is unlikely to result in an enduring advantage which distorts competition to the detriment of consumers."
The modification to Everything Everywhere's 1800Mhz licenses comes into effect from the middle of next month.
The application encompasses all frequencies currently licensed to EE in the 1800MHz band, i.e. the 2x15 MHz that it undertook to divest as a result of its merger in 2010 and the 2x45 MHz it will retain.
It is possible therefore that another operator may pick up the 2x15Mhz spectrum being divested and launch its own services in that band as well, although Everything Everywhere has until the end of September 2013 to dispose of the first block of that spectrum, or hand it back to the regulator.
The regulator plans a full auction of additional LTE spectrum in the 800Mhz and 2.6Ghz bands early next year.
Tags: [everything everywhere] [lte] [ofcom] [UK]
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