UK Delays 'Ambitious' Wireless Broadband Plan
Apr 23, 2008
According to a report in the UK's Guardian, British telecom regulator Ofcom is going "back to the drawing board" to rethink its wireless broadband proposal that would have reclaimed mobile spectrum from incumbent providers Vodafone and O2 in order to sell it to other companies for development of 3G services.
Instead of releasing final recommendations this summer as hoped, Ofcom chief Ed Richards suggested yesterday that the plan will be revisited. The Guardian credits the "sheer weight of responses to his initial plans" for the delay.
Mr. Richards did confirm, however, that Ofcom will move ahead with its plans to hold an auction next year to sell the wireless spectrum that will become available when the UK switches off its analog TV signal in 2012. As has been widely reported, the U.S. netted $19.6 billion in its recent spectrum auction related to the digital TV transition.
The full Guardian article is available here.
Tags:
broadband, Europe, Ofcom, spectrum, spectrum auction, UK, wireless
