Ofcom Delays Decision On Everything Everywhere LTE Network

Ofcom is a regulator over in the UK the overseas things having to do with the mobile ecosystem. The regulator has announced that it is delaying its decision on whether or not to approve Orange and T-Mobile's Everything Everywhere LTE network proposal. Ofcom granted LTE network preliminary approval previously and then gave competitors until April 17 to voice any issues.

That April 17 date has now been pushed back to May 8 to give competitors such as Vodafone and O2 three more weeks to have their voices heard. Vodafone has already argued that approval of Everything Everywhere would give "a significant head start before any of its competitors have a clear path to 4G." The reason competitors are upset at the lead approval of the LTE network would give T-Mobile and Orange has to do with when more bandwidth will be auctioned off.

Orange and T-Mobile plan to use 1800 MHz spectrum that is currently used for 2G communications for the LTE network and that could be approved within a few months. Vodafone and other competitors on the other hand would have to wait until the UK government auctioned off additional 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum, which is not likely to happen until late next year. I'm not sure what to think of this, on the surface, I can see the point of Vodafone. However, if Orange and T-Mobile already own spectrum that is suitable for LTE networks they should be able to use it I think. What do you think?

[via The Verge]