The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, have today proposed to update certain licences held by mobile operators Vodafone and O2 (VMO2) – including for the 900MHz, 1800MHz, 2100MHz and 2.6GHz bands. The move is designed to enable the deployment of newer technologies, such as ultrafast 5G broadband services, into the bands.
The aforementioned bands are currently only allowed to harness up to 4G technology (sometimes also WiMAX), while 5G services typically make use of the 700MHz, 3.4GHz and the 3.6-3.8GHz bands. But re-farming existing spectrum to be used alongside newer services, where appropriate, is a fairly common practice as technologies evolve and can help to improve data speeds, as well as network coverage.
Suffice to say, it was always expected that the older bands would eventually be tweaked to enable support for the latest 5G services. In fact, Ofcom appears to be going a step further by essentially making the bands’ technology neutral, which could aid the future adoption of 6G services too.
Ofcom added that they’re currently also “minded to make similar changes available to the licences of other licensees operating in these bands, upon request“, which is to be expected. None of this means to say that the operators will suddenly switch off 4G services, since those will be the most popular ones for a long time to come, but it does give them more scope to make better use of the existing spectrum as time goes on.
“Overall, we believe that consumers are likely to benefit from the proposed licence variations because these changes will enable licensees to provide innovative mobile services and to make a more efficient use of spectrum. Consumers may also benefit from these services providing faster download speeds and improved coverage,” said Ofcom. The consultation is expected to run until 1st July 2022.