Ofcom has given Orange and T-Mobile owner Everything Everywhere the green light to start doling out 4G services in the UK earlier than expected, the regulator announced in a statement.
Other networks will need to wait until early next year, when fresh bits of spectrum will be auctioned off to the likes of O2, Three and Vodafone. Everything Everywhere has a head-start however, as Ofcom has said it can use existing chunks of its own spectrum to launch speedier services.
Everything Everywhere is allowed to pump LTE goodness over its 1,800MHz spectrum, and will be allowed to start funnelling faster data from 11 September.
Sadly that doesn't mean your Orange or T-Mobile phone will be getting a speed boost next month -- the new-to-the-UK network tech will only work with 4G-enabled mobiles, which aren't widely available here. Everything Everywhere has apparently been working on upgrading its infrastructure, so here's hoping we see faster mobile Internet arriving before Christmas.
As you'd expect, rival networks were none too chuffed when Everything Everywhere asked Ofcom if it could jump the gun on next year's auction. Complaints from other operators delayed proceedings, but now Ofcom has stated that the move would deliver "significant benefits" to shoppers that outweigh any competition concerns.
"We are frankly shocked that Ofcom has reached this decision," Vodafone says, "the regulator has shown a careless disregard for the best interests of consumers, businesses and the wider economy."
Shocked, I say! Fingers crossed Everything Everywhere uses the extra time to get speedier data into the hands of shoppers. The UK lags behind other nations in terms of network speeds, so I'd like to see operators moving with a little more haste.
Are you excited about 4G tech? What do you think of Vodafone's reaction? Let me know in the comments or on our Facebook wall.
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Comments 13
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anonymous 21 August, 2012 09:50
Some info on 4g would be helpful...
How much faster than 3g is it?
Is coverage going to be better than the woeful 3g coverage?
How long is the full roll out going to take? (i.e. when will I need to consider a 4g phone?).
anonymous 21 August, 2012 10:27
Will this be avaliable on the likes of a Samsung galaxy s2 running from the t-mobile networks? Or too access 4G networks, is there specific hardware that we need?
anonymous 21 August, 2012 10:28
Ofcom; "[delaying everything everywhere from launching 4G would be] to the detriment of consumers."
Vs.
Vodafone; "the regulator has shown a careless disregard for the best interests of consumers, businesses and the wider economy."
Sounds like Vodafone is throwing a hissy fit to me.
samuelc 21 August, 2012 10:39
Is the Samsung Galaxy S3 capable of running 4g? If not then it's a big mistake on Samsung's part, especially if the iPhone 5 is released with 4g capabilities, as this would swing it for a lot of people. Mobile internet speeds in the UK are generally the bottleneck for smartphones that slows everything else down and hinders speedy usage.
anonymous 21 August, 2012 11:04
I think its kind of fair that Nothing Anywhere gets 4G first... having recently moved from T Mobile to Vodafone the increase in internet speed is astonishing!! I'm getting 2-4mbit compared to sub-megabit speeds I was getting before
anonymous 21 August, 2012 11:22
4G differs from country to country. There is no universal standard. example: the new ipad is 4G compatible but it will not work with the up and coming 4G in this country because it is set to the 4G spectrum used in america. This is different to the one that will be rolled out here. (That's why, if you noticed, apple UK changed the name of "the new ipad + 4G" to "the new ipad + cellular". You cannot blame the manufacturers for your devices not being 4G ready as they wouldn't have known what spectrum the UK and other countries would be using for 4G when they were being developed. In other words, the vast majority of phones will not be able to use 4G when it rolls out on all UK networks. Be prepared to upgrade.
anonymous 21 August, 2012 11:36
this could really swing in the iPhone 5's favour here, especially if it comes with 4G capabilities.
could be a huge mistake by samsung for not putting these into the S3 (if it hasnt already).
many are saying apple don't know what they are doing and they're behind times now, well with these capabilities i'd say they are much further than anyone else altogether.
roll on september and roll on 4G.
anonymous 21 August, 2012 11:38
Maybe instead of wanting to delay the 4G auction (and retain cash) by endless challenges the other operators will now want to speed up the whole process, which possibly explains why Ofcom has taken this decision.
There is nothing to stop any of the operators installing the infrastructure necessary to be ready immediately after the auction.
anonymous 21 August, 2012 11:43
The other companies already make the phones with 4g hardware for overseas, shipping then here shouldn't be a problem for them, I don't think it will give iPhone too much lead.
anonymous 21 August, 2012 11:54
As someone has already stated, the iPad 3 or new ipad (Whatever you want to call the damn thing) was 4G, but ONLY in the states, even if the iPhone5 is 4G, what makes you think that it will be compatible in the UK? Chances are it will be the same as in the states, especially considering the details on 4G in the UK have been so vague! This does not make Apple anymore advanced than anyone else, many companies have offered 4G/LTE devices in the states, Apple were certainly not the pioneering company. I don't think this is really going to swing the S3 vs Iphone 5 argument, over here anyways.
anonymous 21 August, 2012 14:24
I work for Everything Everywhere. 4G is likely to offer about 10MB/sec on smartphones, and up to about 40MB/sec for dongles. Suffices to say that it will be a huge improvement for customers, and because it's part of the old 2G frequency that is now going to be running 4G, it'll also mean there'll be less congestion on the 3G frequency. Effectively, this is going to benefit all Everything Everywhere customers, whether they have a 4G enabled handset or not.
anonymous 22 August, 2012 09:48
There IS an actual standard for 4G, but none of the phone companies currently posses capable hardware to match the specification. LTE is not true 4G, as is true for lots of the so-called 4G coverage available elsewhere.
That said, I believe Ofcom is unfair to allow Everything Everywhere early access to LTE, fair play they're only converting part of their existing frequencies, but they should have just moved the LTE auction to this year rather than waiting until next year. America has had 4G in various forms in it's major cities since last year, whereas we in the UK lag behind.Surely, by allowing Everything Everywhere early access, Ofcom is encouraging monopolistic behavior. Furthermore, customers locked into contracts with other networks are cutoff from this benefit.
anonymous 22 August, 2012 19:31
Your point about people on other networks being cut off from the benefits also applies to orange/t-mobile. Unless they're willing to pay for a 4G enabled handset at full price (which the majority won't), most people will just wait until their contract runs out so that they can get a subsidized phone. That puts them in the same boat as customers on other networks who, if they want to join the 4G revolution, will just do it when their contract expires to.
A random point about 4G: I happen to feel it will be kind of pointless unless the networks offer unlimited data. I'm on three's unlimited data plan and use an iphone. My friend has an iphone on orange and is limited. We're both "techies" and I can honestly say I get a lot more out of my phone than he does. I've always got the radio/spotify/iplayer/tvcatchup constantly streaming when i'm out and about whereas his iphone is constrained to calls, texts and the odd safari session when outside of a wifi in fear of using up his month's allocation of data. Heck, I'll even turn on personal hotspot so he can use my internet.
If you think about it, what's point of quicker speeds? do we really need to browse webpages faster? Quicker speeds bought about by 4G should make streaming tv/films, dealing with large documents on the move etc a better experience (less buffering etc). I guess we'll just wait and see what happens.