According to rumours BT, who sold BT cellnet and quit the mobile market years ago wants to bid for 4G.

According to rumour only there are 5 bidders in the auction. Each have paid their £100,000 deposit.

Vodafone
O2
Three
EE
BT

This will apparently be confirmed by Ofcom in the next week or so. It is expected that BT only want 2.6GHz to use for business applications or to sell to the wholesale market, they are said not to be interested in 800Mhz.

It sounds like there's no other interested parties who have paid £100,000 to enter the auction either.

I heard BSKYB had bid too..

I was with BT Cellnet years ago before it was all sold to O2. I wonder what name BT will use for mobile services, and whether these will be available directly to the general public or do they have some more business/enterprise/wholesale focused plan in mind?

They already have a name...BT Mobile. Natural extension of this business I guess.

Some analysts think BT will buy some 2600MHz spectrum at a cheap price to extend broadband coverage in rural areas.

Makes sense raher than deploying expensive fibre technology.

Highly doubtful BT would get involved in a consumer offering to compete with the exisiting mobile operatiors as the last entrant has never managed to make much of a return on their £12 Billion investment after nearly 10 years and their business will probably never return the kind of cash it has burned. The UK mobile market is just too saturated now to allow a new entrant to make any impact which is why the operators have been merging and there have been rumours of acquisition in recent years.

It's not all about immediate return Wavejock, you love to bring up the investment figures, but remember Orange was sold for 40BN Euro, and Three will be worth money when it is sold. This isn't about Three anyway.

BT could do several things
Offer mobile broadband in urban areas
Offer backahul service wholesale to telcos
Use it for business services, wide area coverage within company premises, business parks etc
Go for the consumer market and bid for 800Mhz

BSkyB launching a phone network would be hilarious after the Phonegate earlier in the year.
Default voicemail PIN numbers and all! Unlikely and Yes I've heard that BT have put down a deposit too, however I'm not sure there will be any other shockers.

After the merge of EE which isn't completed YET. There is/will be space for another network brand. I was really hoping Virgin Mobile would bid hopefully they are just holding out for 750..

Makes sense for BT to bid for 2600 and use spectrum in a way that hasn't been used here in past.

I don't think anyone else but BT has bid, otherwise they would have said as it's all going to be announced soon by Ofcom ahead of the auction and all 4 mobile operators have said they are in. BT hasn't confirmed they are, but rumour has it they have.

I think with the consolidation down to 4 it'll be hard for any new entrant. The likes of Vodafone and O2 are big competition, even for Sky or Virgin and I'm not sure they are ready to try and go head to head.

If BT are in I'm sure they have some great idea for it... They do have a massive R&D lab and have everything a network would need even the name as stated.

However I feel it is just for Rural broadband. I wonder what the range of 2600 in a non urban environment is. Maybe an external antenna etc.

Interesting question, as they were going to bid years ago for WiMax, but everything is now LTE and WiMax is pretty dead. I don't know on range.

BT has pioneered FTTC. I would go for their mobile network no problem.

Try O2 then

The Dutch 4G auction has gone well for the government but looks like the mobile operators got carried away and it could be a bit of a disaster for them!


http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/18/dutch_auction/

Oh dear...

Thine: See in the comments section of the article a Michael Jennings makes a comment about the slice of spectrum EE sold to Three for 4G and states... 'but which they are not allowed to use until September 2013'

I didn't know this was the case, did you?

They have already been trialling LTE in conjunction with EE, Huawei and NSN for home broadband services in Cornwall.

As have Virgin Media but no mention of them getting involved in the bidding..

Hopefully we won't see a repeat of the 3G auction where the operators had little money to build out their networks due to the money grabbing government.

Can't see why the licences can't be cheaper on the proviso that they have to attain an excellent level of coverage and performance within a year or two of commencement.

That would mean O2 might have to invest some money in to their network!

Apparently for urban services according to a quick Googling. If BT plans to use spectrum for rural services it would be very interesting.

Its hard to feel sorry for the networks. They bid far too much for 3G. Ultimately they only have themselves to blame. Its a bit like eBay! They didnt have much money invest in 3G hence good coverage took many years. O2 still dont good 3G coverage

As for 4G coverage obligations it will only apply if you are successful in getting in buying 2 Lots at 800MHz otherwise the networks can take as long as they want. Im sure O2 will be in no hurry!

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1757912

Yes I did, they are still going to be taking part in the auction, but have the 1800Mhz as a fall back position, which allowed them to go ahead and start building the 4G network, which they are doing. It has enabled Three to sign contracts and start building the 4G side as they are now guaranteed to be launching 4G in September, earlier if they get any other spectrum.

This is very likely- BT must supply any 4G service at a comparable price to fibre however as not to look like they are exploiting those in rural areas.

Sky feasibly could get some of the spectrum but I feel it would be too much of a risk for them in the medium term.

Why would BT have to do that? If that's the case, is it the case for the other licencees?

BT has to be fair and equitable when it comes to fixed line stuff because they own it all. When it comes to holding radio spectrum they will be one of many companies and there's no need to treat them differently.

They haven't got to be reasonable but in all areas I doubt the take up would be that great if the prices are expensive. If they decide not to lay fibre and use their (presumptive) 4G spectrum in BDUK areas then I think there are restrictions on price (25 quid a month is a guideline for FTTC currently).

As someone who lives in a market one exchange I hope BT (or someone similar) gets some of spectrum to help boost speeds in areas like mine.

Surely you would want to hope that you're getting FTTC or FTTP?

I live in a market one exchange area and I have FTTC with parts of the village on FTTP. Although this is apart publicly funded rollout, BT has contributed something like 65% of the cash.

My exchange is very small (1500 houses- not likely to be upgraded to FTTC before 2015 apparently) so anything to speed up my connection soonish would be welcome!