UK Delays 4G Until 2011
The UK government has admitted that the auction for 4G frequencies is unlikely to happen before 2011.
The auction was originally scheduled to take place in 2008 but was delayed by legal challenges from UK mobile phone companies T-Mobile and O2.
The legal challenges revolve around which frequencies bands can be used for 3G and 2G phones services after 4G is introduced.
4G Phone UK Test
UK mobile operator, O2, is trialling a 4G phone network in the town of Slough.
O2 is using Chinese company Huawei as its technology partner in the 4G test which uses six mobile phone towers across the town to provide the network.
Assuming the trials go well, a 4G UK mobile phone network could start becoming a reality in 2011.
UK 4G Coming
UK mobile phone operator O2 is expecting have a test 4G mobile network running by the summer of 2010.
The parent company of O2, Telefonica, has already announced 4G tests for the UK and five other countries of the next generation of mobile broadband technology.
The LTE trials will be the first carried out by any UK mobile phone operator – although Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone have said they intend to roll out 4G networks in the future.
4G Tests: UK, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, Brazil & Argentina
Spain’s mobile phone giant Telefonica is about to launch 4G network tests in six countries as a prelude to launching full data networks. In addition to Telefonica’s home country of Spain, – the UK, Germany, Czech Republic, Brazil and Argentina will take part in the LTE testing.
Earlier this year Telefonica demoed a 4G VoIP call over a LTE network as well as data & image downloads of over 140mbps.
UK 4G / LTE Trials Coming
Huawei Technologies – already involved with 4G trials in Europe – is reported to be getting ready for UK 4G trails.
It’s not known exactly which UK mobile operator the trial will be with but Huawei is already working in some capacity or another with Vodafone UK , Orange UK , and O2 (UK).
The trials could start as soon as the end of the year.
