EE Limited (“EE”), Hutchison 3G UK Limited (“H3G”), Telefonica UK Limited (“Telefonica”) and Vodafone Limited (“Vodafone”) have all requested that their 1800 MHz licences be amended in this way.
Ofcom's preliminary verdict is to allow these variations, however the results of the consultation will be taken into consideration.
Any stakeholders may respond to the consultation on-line.
The bands being made available are 2350 to 2390 MHz (40MHz) and 3410 to 3600 MHz (150MHz). It is expected that these bands will be licensed for use by mobile network operators for 4G/LTE services, though other broadband services could also be offered.
Unfortunately these bands are also used by amateur radio and it is likely that severe interference can be expected. Therefore Ofcom has proposed three recommendations to minimise interference.
Ofcom wants to make changes to amateur licenses such that if the proposals are accepted would
The consultation has now closed.
This affects the 900MHz, 1800MHz and 2100MHz bands. Ofcom has also allowed an increase in power of 3dB in the 900MHz band to align it with power levels in the 800MHz band.
This is in-line with Ofcom's policy to liberalise licenses and make them technology neutral and will allow the MNOs to roll-out 4G (LTE) services on any of their spectrum without regulatory hinderance.
In the UK there is no such thing as unlicensed spectrum and all devices (whether they broadcast or receive radio transmissions) must be covered by a license as per the Wireless Telegraphy Act. Ofcom can issue a Standard Instrument (really an Act of Parliament) to cover certain frequency bands and uses making that spectrum license exempt, which means if the equipment is used as per the SI, it doesn't need a specific license.
Ofcom has made new spectrum available for SRDs (short range devices) such as range finding equipment for cars. There is now 5MHz of spectrum available between 10.575 to 10.6 GHz which will add to the existing range of 10.577 to 10.597 GHz and this came into force on 26th June 2013.
The existing band 10.675 to 10.699 GHz can continue to be used by existing systems, but it will be closed for new systems on 30 December 2014 giving manufacturers 18 months to switch to the new band.
Mobile terminal handsets using WiMAX or LTE in the 800MHz, 2011MHz and 2.6GHz bands will be license exempt (when connected to a licensed mobile network i.e. BT, EE, 3UK, O2 or Vodafone).
Various satellite terminals will also be license exempt in the 1518 to 1525 MHz, 1525 MHz to 1559 MHz, 1626.5 MHz to 1660.5 MHz and 1670 to 1675 MHz bands.
Category 4 LTE supports 150Mb/s download speeds and is already being implemented by other vendors.
This should give NVidia a better chance against its main competitors (in the Smartphone markets) Qualcomm, Broadcom and LTE-only specialist Altair.
NVidia gained LTE experience by acquiring UK company Icera which uses a software defined architecture and though this technology has been used alongside Tegra4 CPU devices as a separate package, the Tegra4i integrates the technology on to the system as the Tegra4. As Icera's technology is software defined, no actual hardware modifications were required to implement the enhancements.
Currently no mobile networks actually support Category-4 LTE (or LTE Advanced), though Japan's NTT Docomo has said they'll be announcing services by the end of the year.
EE currently has deployed LTE in their 1800MHz spectrum and they will relinquish some of this (2 x 15MHz) to 3UK by the end of 2013 when 3UK can deploy their own LTE services.
Generally the minimum requirement to deploy LTE is a requirement of at least 2 x 10MHz, so the two lots of 2 x 5MHz may cause EE and 3UK issues, so they are considering joining their efforts and sharing their joint spectrum, giving them access to a joint amount of 2 x 10MHz.
Currently this is just in the planning stage and it may not be technically feasible, though there is no reason why it shouldn't be.
The Government is hoping to free 500MHz of spectrum by 2020, mainly by re-allocating spectrum currently held by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The first part of freed up spectrum is in the 2300MHz band (2350MHz to 2390 MHz) which should be released in 2014.
Though Ofcom will issue a technology neutral license, it's expected that the spectrum will be acquired for Long Term Evolution (LTE) services.
Ofcom is requesting that stakeholders in the 2.4GHz band let Ofcom know how releasing the 2300MHz band might affect them.
The statement is on-line here and stakeholders may respond using an on-line form.
The consultation closes at 5pm on the 19th June 2013.
LTE is seen as a must have for next generation tablets and integrated on to the CPU rather than a separate radio chip.
The delay will give Qualcomm who are already market leaders in the integrated CPU market with their Snapdragon series of cores - and they already have a 4 core chip on the market which will be used in high-end devices like Samsung's Galaxy S4 (in Europe at least).
Though NVidia has been reasonably successful with its Tegra3 chip, it's been a difficult journey with them having to make significant re-designs along the way to fix design issues with the chip. Getting the Tegra4i right will mean long term cost savings.
Though currently supporting GSM (2G) and 2.5G networks, Range Networks are working on both 3G WCDMA and LTE networks.
Systems have been deployed in a research station Antarctica and a cattle ranching cooperative in Patagonia as well as a couple of hundred other rural environments.
The company has been self funded by the owners, but attracted funding in December 2010 and more recently a series A round which should help Range commercialise their systems and offer them to Tier 1 type operators for rural use. A core GSM network can be built for less than $100,000 while a base-station costs between $30,000 - $40,000 (both are around 1/3 the cost of current commercial offerings). The development will include SS7 connectivity and IMS functionality to connect to existing networks, though GSM endpoints appear as SIP endpoints.
Range are also competing with the advantage that all their systems are developed in the US (while competitors like ZTE are Chinese) which might appease the US Government who don't want US operators to rely on Chinese equipment which may have security issues and back-doors available to the Chinese Government.
Niche Spectrum Ventures Limited (a subsidiary of BT Group plc) paid £15,061,179 to be allocated the spectrum bands 2,520 to 2,535 MHz and 2,640 to 2,655 MHz.
Vodafone Limited has paid £8,060,020 to be allocated the spectrum bands 801 to 811 MHz and 842 to 852 MHz, and an additional £4,039,123 to be allocated the spectrum bands 2,500 to 2,520 MHz and 2,620 to 2,640 MHz.
O2 was awarded 811 to 821 MHz and 852 to 862 MHz in the 4G spectrum award and has an obligation to cover 98% of the UK population by 2017.
The original auction raised £2,341,113,000 for the UK Treasury, this additional bidding has raised an extra £27,160,322 bringing the total raised to £2,368,273,322 for the UK coffers.
The licenses are now free to deploy 4G (LTE) services on these bands.
Last week Ofcom announced the winning bidders for 4G spectrum and amounts bid for it.
| Everything Everywhere Ltd | 2 x 5 MHz of 800 MHz and 2 x 35 MHz of 2.6 GHz | £588,876,000 |
| Hutchison 3G UK Ltd | 2 x 5 MHz of 800 MHz | £225,000,000 |
| Niche Spectrum Ventures | 2 x 15 MHz of 2.6 GHz and 1 x 20 MHz of 2.6 GHz (unpaired) | £186,476,000 |
| Telefónica UK Ltd | 2 x 10 MHz of 800 MHz (coverage obligation lot) | £550,000,000 |
| Vodafone Ltd | 2 x 10 MHz of 800 MHz, 2 x 20 MHz of 2.6 GHz and 1 x 25 MHz of 2.6 GHz (unpaired) | £790,761,000 |
This would mean O2 and Vodafone can refarm both their 900MHz 2G spectrum and their 2.1GHz 3G spectrum, EE (the combined entity of Orange and T-Mobile) have already started refarming of their 1800MHz spectrum, but they will be allowed to also refarm their 2.1GHz 3G spectrum. 3UK only have (currently) 2.1GHz 3G spectrum but will be able to refarm this and when EE transfer around 25% of their 1800MHz spectrum to 3UK they will also be allowed to use this for 4G (though this is not expected to happen until September 2013).
This is separate from any spectrum that is currently being auctioned (800MHz and 2.6GHz) though Ofcom has not yet announced who is bidding for what spectrum.
3UK have announced that when they launch 4G services, they will not differentiate on price between 4G and 3G services. The consultation is available here and interested stakeholders can respond on-line.
Each of the following paid a £100,000 deposit and the actual auction will take place in early 2013.
The four existing mobile network operators (MNOs) EE, 3UK, O2 (Telefonica) and Vodafone were expected to bid and will probably bid for the 800MHz spectrum.
BT was a preferred outsider and will probably be bidding for 2.6GHz spectrum.
HKT's parent PCCW already has a nationwide 3.4GHz license (but it's a weird LTE band) but they have launched an LTE-TD wholesale service in the London area, so they may well bid for 2.6GHz spectrum as at least this is a common worldwide LTE band.
MLL already have a low power GSM license and also will probably have bid for a 2.6GHz license, especially as they are developing their own LTE stack (via a 3rd party).
Next year Ofcom will announce which bidders bid for what spectrum.
This is in-line with both EU and International harmonised spectrum policy.
The 700MHz band is already used for wireless broadband in countries such as North America and the EU also wishes to move in this direction to cope with future broadband spectrum requirements (the band could be used for LTE or other wireless broadband technologies). The 800MHz band is already being freed (as part of the digital switchover) and is being auctioned in early December 2012 and should be available in March 2013 and it is assumed the licensees will operate LTE services in the 2 bands being auctioned.
In order to move DTT services, it will be necessary to ensure maximum spectral efficiency and thus it's likely DTT MUX's will all have to migrate to DVB-T2 and MPEG-4 (as is used by Freeview HD) which may affect end-users as they will have to ensure they have the correct systems to receive these transmissions.
Ofcom are also keen to promote innovative new services such as White Space Devices (WSD) as these can use parts of the spectrum that aren't being used for DTT services (this is mainly due to overlapping DTT regions that have to use different frequency sets and thus there are areas of spectrum that are left empty in one area so as not to interfere with neighbouring areas). The 'white spaces' are perfectly usable for controlled transmissions that wont interfere with neighbouring areas, but can provide spectrum for broadband. WSDs will need to contact a central database, both to ensure that they are only using allowable frequencies and also Ofcom may enforce a kill switch to ensure that if interference does occur, that the devices can be remotely disabled.
Currently trials of WSDs are taking place in the 700MHz band.
Though 2018 seems a long way away, it took a huge amount of effort to ensure the current digital switchover could take place and it seems that this is really a second digital switchover (though DTT services already operate in the lower 600MHz band so new equipment and transmitters/etc shouldn't be required).
The prices are at a premium though and EE is charging more for their LTE tariffs than on their 3G bands.
If you want a LTE devices, tariffs are: -
| 500MB | £36 |
| 1GB | £41 |
| 3GB | £46 |
| 5GB | £51 |
| 8GB | £56 |
SIM only deals for people with existing devices are: -
| 500MB | £21 |
| 1GB | £26 |
| 3GB | £31 |
| 5GB | £36 |
As well as a premium EE are imposing heavy data limits and every extra 2GB costs £15 per month.
Though LTE will allow faster downloads of content, EE is effectively limiting how users can actually use their services unless it's for corporates who are willing to pay the excessive charges for data use (though voice and SMS are unlimited).
EE has 2 x 60 MHz bands in 1800MHz and they were forced to relinquish some of this spectrum by the European Competition Commission (2 x 15 MHz chunks) and they have no done this by selling it to 3.
However there's a twist as 3 won't actually get hold of the spectrum until 2013 (which is pretty much the maximum time frame the Competition Commission allowed), which gives EE a whole year to offer 4G (LTE) services in the 1800MHz band and be a UK monopoly for 4G services (Ofcom granted EE a license variation to allow 4G services in EE's 1800MHz band earlier this week).
All of the other mobile network operators have cried foul play as they have to wait for spectrum to become available in 800MHz and 2.6GHz as part of the digital dividend, but Ofcom won't auction the spectrum until 2013 and it's not expected to be available until at least the end of 2013.
By offering LTE services it's likely devices such as the iPhone 5 and other smartphones and tablets will be able to use these frequencies as they're already used in Australia and some Asia Pacific countries. Though UK Broadband is also offering LTE on their spectrum, it's in a band that's not commonly used for LTE and they are having specific devices made to use it.
All of the other Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) didn't want EE to be able to do this, but Ofcom have decided that it's in the public interest for them to do so, even though it may give EE a short-term competitive advantage. O2 have published their disappointment in this result.
EE currently have 2 x 60 MHz bands in 1800MHz though under the agreement with the competition commission they have to divest 2 x 15 MHz as part of its merger (leaving them with 2 x 45 MHz). Ofcom have allowed EE to utilise LTE on the full bands, not just the bands that EE will retain after the digital divide auctions expected next year (Ofcom will auction the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands and EE's spectrum will become available as part of this).
It is rumoured that devices such as the iPhone 5 will be able to use LTE services in this band, so EE will be the only UK operator that allows full use of the iPhone's data capabilities.
Ofcom has also published a statement on the interference of LTE in the 800MHz bands which could affect TV services in the future, though their testing has shown that actual interference should be minimal for real use scenarios.
Ofcom's full statement is here.
The 800MHz spectrum has become available due to the switching off of analogue television services (the digital divide) while 2.6GHz was reserved for future IMT-2000 (3G) services.
The 800MHz spectrum will be auctioned as 2 x 30 MHz blocks (paired spectrum) while the 2.6GHz band will consist of 2 x 70MHz blocks and a 50 MHz single (unpaired) block. This spectrum amounts to an 80% increase on all spectrum allocated to date.
Existing spectrum holders can bid for increased allocations, though spectrum will be reserved for a new entrant (i.e. one that isn't Telefonica O2, Everything Everywhere and Vodafone), this new entrant could be Hutchison 3G (who currently do not have any 2G i.e. sub 2 GHz spectrum.
The 800MHz licensee will have to meet 98% indoor coverage which implies 99.5% outdoor coverage, by 2017. The licensee will also have obligations to cover 95% of the populations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Ofcom will not reserve any spectrum for low power localised services, though a low power provider can apply for a national license.
Ofcom is reserving spectrum portfolios for a new entrant, these are
| Portfolio | 800 MHz | 1800 MHz | 2.6 GHz |
| 1 | 2 x 15 MHz | ||
| 2 | 2 x 10 MHz | 2 x 10 MHz | |
| 3 | 2 x 5 MHz | 2 x 15 MHz | |
| 4 | 2 x 15 MHz | 2 x 20 MHz |
EverythingEverywhere have to relinquish 2 x 15 MHz paired spectrum as part of their arrangements with the EU when they combined T-Mobile and Orange. Ofcom have considered the request from EverythingEverywhere as to allow them to ref arm their 1800 MHz spectrum for LTE us independently from this spectrum auction and will announce its results later this year.
Ofcom has published a draft legal document which implements the auction rules, the consultation will close on 11th September 2012.
Ofcom will invite application to bid before the end of 2012 with the auction starting in 2013 and licenses awarded in March 2013.
Winners of spectrum are expected to roll-out LTE services on the new spectrum starting in the middle of 2013 with consumer services being available after that.
