http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/s...ds/award_1781/

I expect the additional bandwidth will be bought up by one of the existing network operators rather than a whole new network.

GSM-1800 uses 1710 - 1785 MHz to send information from the Mobile Station to the Base Transceiver Station (upstream) and 1805 - 1880 MHz for the other direction (downstream), providing 374 channels. Duplex spacing is 95 MHz.

The auction is for 1781.7-1785 MHz paired with 1876.7-1880 MHz so its not a great deal of bandwidth really.

The following companies will be bidding for this bandwidth:

British Telecommunications PLC
Cable & Wireless UK (England)
COLT Mobile Telecommunications Ltd
Cyberpress Ltd
FMS Solutions Ltd
Mapesbury Communications Ltd
02 (UK) Ltd
Opal Telecom Ltd
Orange Personal Communications Services Ltd PLDT (UK) Ltd Shyam Telecom
UK Ltd Spring Mobil AB Teleware PLC Zynetix Ltd

Ofcom has provisionally awarded wireless telegraphy licences for use of the frequencies 1781.7-1785MHz paired with 1876.7-1880MHz to the companies listed below, subject to full licence fees being received by Ofcom by 17:30 on Friday 28 April 2006.


Bidders

1 British Telecommunications PLC

2 Cable & Wireless UK ( England )

3 COLT Mobile Telecommunications Ltd

4 Cyberpress Ltd

5 FMS Solutions Ltd

6 Mapesbury Communications Ltd

7 O2 ( UK ) Ltd

8 Opal Telecom Ltd

9 PLDT ( UK ) Ltd

10 Shyam Telecom UK Ltd

11 Spring Mobil AB

12 Teleware PLC

See also: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/ar...151774,00.html

As CPW (TalkTalk) own Opal, I wonder if they will use that to put customers on, just like their broadband, put too many customers on a infrastructure not built for the amount of users they put on it.

I cant see how this will work when most of the handsets supplied by networks are locked to their own UK services. OK some folks have SIM free handsets and others get theirs unlocked for holidays etc but the vast majority wont be able to roam onto an alternative network.

Time will tell if the new pico cell arrangement will be a consumer product or be a service targetted at large businesses and organisations.

They are only micro-networks, useful for campuses, business premises etc. and will not be a consumer product - it's not possible. The spectrum these networks are on can only be short-wave as it inteferes with other services.

They operate on 1800Mhz on frequencies that GSM handsets already cover.

More information here: www.lowpowergsm.com