Editor’s Note: Wireless operators are a busy bunch, and as such RCR Wireless News will attempt to gather some of the important announcements that may slip through the cracks from the world’s largest carriers in a weekly wrap-up. Enjoy!
–The nation’s No. 3 and No. 4 wireless operators took center stage this week, with Sprint and T-Mobile US both announcing new pricing initiatives, and more importantly for Sprint it announced the conclusion of its acquisition of Clearwire and acquisition by Softbank.
RCR Wireless News spoke with Roger Entner, founder and lead analyst at Recon Analytics, to get his view on the importance of these moves, the impact they will have on the wireless space and where both of these operators go from here.
–Following up on its previously announced attempt to free up 2G and 3G spectrum for LTE services, U.K. regulator Ofcom said this week that it would begin allowing wireless operators to re-farm licenses in the 900, 1.8 GHz and 2.1 GHz spectrum bands for next-generation services.
“This decision delivers a long standing objective to liberalize all mobile licenses so as to remove the regulatory barriers to deployment of the latest available mobile technology,” Ofcom noted in a report. “Even though operators may not seek to deploy 4G services in the newly liberalized bands in the immediate future, the interests of consumers will be served by the fact that these bands have been liberalized now, ahead of a market led transition to their use for 4G technology in future. As a result, operators can plan and implement a transition to 4G technology in these bands without having to engage in a further regulatory process.”
The move goes against current European regulations that subject certain spectrum bands to certain wireless technologies in order to ease roaming between countries. The 900 MHz and 1.8 GHz bands were initially set aside for GSM-based 2G services, while the 2.1 GHz band set aside for UMTS-based 3G services. Many European countries have begun auctioning spectrum for “4G” services in the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands. Ofcom generated $3.5 billion in bids for its “4G” spectrum auction earlier this year, which was well below expectations.
Ofcom last year allowed Everything Everywhere – now known as EE – to use its 1.8 GHz spectrum license to rollout “4G” services, a move that the regulator acknowledged would allow the carrier to “enjoy a competitive advantage during the period before other operators are able to launch their own LTE services,” but noted that any advantage would not be long lasting. EE started the rollout of its LTE services last October.
Analysts were positive on the news, noting the increased availability of spectrum from next-generation services should boost competition.
“The shift toward a technology-neutral approach to spectrum licensing is welcome,” said Declan Lonergan, VP of research at Yankee Group. “Regulators’ efforts should go into ensuring effective competition in the mobility marketplace, which in turn delivers improved choice, value and satisfaction for end-users. Industry regulators generally don’t need to specify exactly which technology is used in each spectrum band. Though the U.K. government and Ofcom received much criticism for the delays in licensing 4G spectrum, these parties deserve credit for removing restrictions on re-use of 2G spectrum for 4G. Credit where credit is due.”
Additional carrier news can be found on the RCR Wireless News “Carriers” page.
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