High speed wireless frequencies release may cause fighting between operators

There could soon be another all out battle between network operators similar to the one for 3G licences which cost the operators £22.5bn.

The battle between operators for 3G licences, which cost them £22.5 billion, caused a massive slowdown in deployment of the new network, and also led to continuing expensive call costs, may happen again this autumn. This is the date for the single biggest radio spectrum release ever where the 2.6Ghz band frequencies are sold off by Ofcom. This will be ideally suited for the new Wimax wireless technology and also for the impending release of the more advanced 3.5G and 4G wireless networks.

Testing for the new high speed packet access (HSPA plus) is underway with mobile network operators as the auction picks up pace. The top speed on the new 3.5G high speed download packet access is, in theory, 14.4Mbps compared to the 42Mbps that is offered by HSPA plus. These speeds though are much slower in reality with the HSDPA offering speeds as low as 64kbps compared to that of WiMax wireless, which offers a minimum of 1Mbps.

Another technology that will soon be embraced as the auction for the 2.6Ghz licencing ensues is 4G. This technology is purely internet protocol (IP) driven and operates using the 2.6Ghz band. 4G could offer users download rates peaking in the hundreds of Mbps range and also offers compatibility for the earlier mobile standards so those using the 3.5G technology will be able to switch between the cells without even knowing it.

There was news last month that Swedish operator TeliaSonera will be building a 4G network in Sweden, but it all hinges on who wins the local spectrum auction as to when 4G will apear in the UK. There will be a fight between the mobile network operators and the Wimax for licences if the mobile operators want to move to 4G, which looks very likely at the moment. All this is something that the government and Ofcom are hoping will happen after the money made on the 3G auction but for the users it will be far less popular if wireless calls remain as high as they are.