Ofcom Consultation on 2.3GHz & 3.4GHz

Everything Goes

07-11-2014

Ofcom are doing a consultation on 2.3GHz & 3.4GHz with an auction taking place in late 2015 or early 2016 of course that depends on any legal action by the usual suspects ie O2 and Vodafone!

Quote:
“Potential bidders are being invited to comment on proposals for Ofcom’s auction of spectrum in the 2.3 GHz and 3.4 GHz bands, which is expected to take place in late 2015 or early 2016.

While no specific uses for this spectrum have been prescribed, it is likely to interest the mobile industry, which relies on spectrum to offer internet services to consumers’ smartphones and tablets. The 2.3 GHz and 3.4 GHz spectrum bands are frequencies which could be suitable for providing very high data capacity.

Many existing mobile handsets from major manufacturers including the Apple iPhone 5 and 6, HTC Desire and Samsung Galaxy are already compatible with the 2.3 GHz spectrum in other markets.

The 3.4 GHz band is currently being used for 4G wireless broadband in six countries including the UK, Canada and Spain.

The consultation closes on 23 January 2015.”

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/con...-design-condoc

wilt

07-11-2014

I suspect O2 will be more than happy for this to go ahead - they need more spectrum!

Everything Goes

07-11-2014

Looks like Ofcom will alter the auction following criticism by the NAO over the last auction which they felt didn't get enough money.

Quote:
“We have considered enhancements to the detail of the CCA design which apply some of the lessons learned from the 2013 auction. These include feedback we received from stakeholders and the NAO. In the sections below, we describe the enhancements: changes to the activity rule which aim to make the final clock round more indicative of the final outcome of the auction - both in terms of allocation of spectrum and prices paid. This should contribute to more informative clock rounds and reduce the scope for unpredictability in the Supplementary Bids Round. The enhancements reduce the uncertainty associated with the second price rule, which should minimise both the potential for surprise outcomes and the challenges faced by budget-constrained bidders.”

The Lord Lucan

07-11-2014

Not too interested in this.. 3..4 would be very limited even for providing say 4G in a village. Maybe good for VoLTE Femto cells in enterprise/home.. maybe.

I'm waiting with excitement about 700.. thats where things will get interesting.

enapace

07-11-2014

I think the 2.3GHz has some merit for Three and O2 but agree on the 3.4GHz spectrum.

Icaraa

07-11-2014

What bands are these then? I'm trying to figure out which iPhone 6 model would support them (I know UK models will)

Everything Goes

07-11-2014

Originally Posted by Icaraa:
“What bands are these then? I'm trying to figure out which iPhone 6 model would support them (I know UK models will)”

What model number is your iPhone 6: A1549, A1522, A1586, A1524?

https://www.apple.com/uk/iphone-6/specs/

jabbamk1

08-11-2014

Band 40. The UK iPhone 6 model supports it.

There aren't many phones in the UK that support band 40.

Zee_Bukhari

08-11-2014

I wonder if the Nokia Lumia 930 supports these, not sure where to check.

jabbamk1

08-11-2014

Originally Posted by Zee_Bukhari:
“I wonder if the Nokia Lumia 930 supports these, not sure where to check.”

Nah, it doesn't.

There is only around ~200 phones worldwide that support the frequency out of a total ~1,150 LTE phones.

And the majority of them are sold in Asia only.

Zee_Bukhari

08-11-2014

Originally Posted by jabbamk1:
“Nah, it doesn't.

There is only around ~200 phones worldwide that support the frequency out of a total ~1,150 LTE phones.

And the majority of them are sold in Asia only.”

Yeah just checked up.

Only Nokia phones to support are Nokia Lumia 636 and 638 which are sold in China at the moment.

Shame

wavejockglw

08-11-2014

This might be of interest to BT to further invest in mobile bandwidth for their upcoming relaunch into the consumer market.

jabbamk1

08-11-2014

Originally Posted by Zee_Bukhari:
“Yeah just checked up.

Only Nokia phones to support are Nokia Lumia 636 and 638 which are sold in China at the moment.

Shame”

The issue with LTE is that the frequencies used are different for every region.

In the UK you need a phone for

FDD LTE 3/7/20
TDD LTE 40

If you want to have 100% future compatibility. But then tbh all you need is a phone with a world radio such as the iPhone 6 or the Huawei Ascend Mate 7.

The good thing about 3G is that Band 1 was used in pretty much every single country so every 3G phone released would work pretty much anywhere. (Except the USA because they juuuuussst haaaavveeee to be different!!!

japaul

10-11-2014

Originally Posted by jabbamk1:
“The issue with LTE is that the frequencies used are different for every region.

In the UK you need a phone for

FDD LTE 3/7/20
TDD LTE 40

If you want to have 100% future compatibility. But then tbh all you need is a phone with a world radio such as the iPhone 6 or the Huawei Ascend Mate 7.
”

Think you'll need more than that for future compatibility. Band 38 (2600 TDD) will be used (was part of the 4G auction and supported by the iPhone 6). I suspect that Band 33 will finally see some use once it's harmonised too (Three, EE, O2 already have this spectrum).

Originally Posted by The Lord Lucan:
“I'm waiting with excitement about 700.. thats where things will get interesting.
”

I'd forget about 700 for the rest of this decade. It might be auctioned before that but there's no chance of actually using it before 2020 and it'll probably be later than that. It's not easy switching off TV channels.

jabbamk1

10-11-2014

Originally Posted by japaul:
“Think you'll need more than that for future compatibility. Band 38 (2600 TDD) will be used (was part of the 4G auction and supported by the iPhone 6). I suspect that Band 33 will finally see some use once it's harmonised too (Three, EE, O2 already have this spectrum).”

Oh yeh, forgot about Band 38.

Band 33? Tell me more?

japaul

10-11-2014

Originally Posted by jabbamk1:
“
Band 33? Tell me more?”

The TDD spectrum (1900-1920) from the 3G auction that nobody ever found a use for in the 3G world.

enapace

11-11-2014

Originally Posted by japaul:
“I'd forget about 700 for the rest of this decade. It might be auctioned before that but there's no chance of actually using it before 2020 and it'll probably be later than that. It's not easy switching off TV channels.”

I thought it was moving the channels to to 600MHz from the 700MHz band they in didn't actually think a lot of channels would actually be lost. Until we start in remove digital TV imagine no earlier than 2025 when we look at using 494-694MHz Spectrum which Is currently used for Digital TV. But yeah I would think 2019-2021 is a good estimate of when that spectrum is likely to be launched.

Will be interesting to see what happens in these auctions Relish has already started to demonstrate it is possible to use 3.4GHz for fixed wireless broadband so imagine BT will be interested in that and other wireless companies.

The 40MHz of 2300MHz currently up for auction which Ofcom by end the of the decade should have the rest of that spectrum band freed up will likely go to O2 or Three imagine as it highish band spectrum Ofcom won't even be looking for that much. Will be a useful band for LTE roaming in the future.