Tuesday, May 28, 2013

The Situation Regarding 4G Mobile UK

By Beau Harrold


The reach of mobile towers that offer data and phone is extreme these days, covering most of the western world. British citizens were among the first to benefit from the new technology of 3G around a decade ago, but they are now among the last to get access to 4G, falling behind North America and the rest of western Europe. There have been numerous problems with 4G mobile UK, which has significantly slowed the scheduled roll-out.

When polled, most of UK citizens indicated that they sought 4G coverage, and they wanted it immediately. Although it is not clear from the survey whether the people asked were aware of the issues with the technology, 82% supported the immediate generation of greater 4G coverage. The reasons they alluded to included keeping up with the rest of the world, and competing with international businesses.

Most 4G coverage uses the bandwidth at 800 and 2100Mhz. Older technologies like 2G and 3G use different bands. The optimal combination of speed and distance, together with building penetration of signals, is attained at 800Mhz. The issue with this is that many other technologies also rely on frequencies around this band, for similar reasons.

Between 3 - 10% of all UK households could lose their free television if national 4G coverage was introduced, however. The bandwidth utilised by boosters that bring the signal to the UK population is close enough to that of the new, submitted 4G networks that it may run into interference. The mobile companies have pledged to use filters to reduce this interference, but it might still present some issues for some.

Paid TV might also be impacted, although people could, of course, select to change to other options in these cases. However, there are some major companies behind paid TV now days, since it is such a vast business. This means that there are potent opponents standing in the way of rolling out 4G as it currently stands.

Something that was submitted and started to be carried out was auctioning off the spectrum. Companies or businesses that sought after using a frequency could buy the rights to do so. Nevertheless, some of the companies that would be affected have been holding up the process, seemingly confident a court ruling that they can use to their benefit. Most of the participants are mobile providers.

Test versions of 4G networks have been successfully rolled out by a number of large providers in various cities across the UK. Nevertheless, they do not use the spectrum which are of most contention, and the frequencies they do use are not ideal candidates for UK wide coverage. Some frequencies travel greater distances and travel through buildings better than others, which are important qualities in a mobile phone signal.

It seems unlikely that 4G will not come to the UK, but apparently it's going to take its own sweet time getting here. Big companies opposing each other via auctions, courts, deals, and more can take some time to get everything sorted. 4G mobile UK appears like a giant pain right now, but most people are in agreement that the longer-term outcome will be advantageous.




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