Telecoms watchdog, Ofcom recently gave Everything Everywhere
permission to re-use the 1800MHz band for 4G services.
This will allow Orange and T-Mobile to deploy 4G related
services by the end of this year or early 2013, whilst their rivals
such as O2, Vodafone and Three would have to wait until late 2013
or early 2014 to launch similar services via the 800MHz and 2.6GHz
bands.
O2 warned that Ofcom's decision would "undermine the
competitive environment" for 4G and exclude "the majority
of consumers" from faster mobile broadband services.
Vodafone were equally upset saying that Ofcom had "shown a
careless disregard for the best interests of consumers, businesses
and the wider economy through its refusal to properly regard the
competitive distortion created".
However Ofcom were adamant on an early 4G launch stating that
any advantage gained is "unlikely to result in an enduring
advantage which distorts competition to the detriment of
consumers."
An Ofcom spokesman reacted to O2's owner Telefonica plans to
fight the decision saying, "We will robustly defend our
position if required".
Olaf Swantee, CEO of Everything Everywhere did say that: "if
there is litigation against Ofcom's ruling, we will have no choice
but to review our position."
