British mobile operators may face spectrum cap

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The UK mobile operators are likely to be forced to cap the amount of spectrum they own, under a proposal which targeted at settling a dispute and fulfilling the government’s target of providing universal broadband.
The country’s five main mobile operators have been in dispute since Ofcom in 2007 said it could take radio spectrum away from the two top operators O2, owned by Telefonica, and Vodafone.

Ofcom had reportedly said that the 900 Megahertz spectrum could then be auctioned to Orange, T-Mobile and 3 calling for billions of pounds in network launch savings. Ofcom had plans to lift the regulatory restrictions on using the 3G services such as surfing the Internet and using gaming services could also be offered over older second generation (2G) networks.

They said it was cheaper to provide 3G-type services over the 900 MHz band in rural areas than its rival 2G frequency, the 1800 MHz, as the lower frequency travels further and needs fewer base stations and masts.

O2 and Vodafone have been against the plans and the dispute came as a potential barrier for the government to launch universal broadband, which asks for cooperation from the operators.
Under the proposals outlined by the Independent Spectrum Broker, mobile operator would be given a spectrum cap, meaning they could hold on to the spectrum they own but would need to sell it before buying any more.