Hands0n
3rd May 2006, 08:44 PM
Yes, you read the headline correctly. OFCOM have been busy selling of licences for parts of the 1800MHz GSM spectrum. There have been no shortage of buyers. The following two articles make interesting reading.
But what, I hear you ask, does this mean for 2G's future - and precisely why does it have a future alongside 3G then?
I suspect that 2G (in all its flavours) will become merely another transmission component of 4G when it arrives. Thus persisting use of the GSM spectrum makes complete sense, particularly for the anticipated 4G terminals that will inevitably make an appearance in due course.
Or could this be Rabbit Mk.II?
Read on ...
(NB: There are live links in the original article, so hop on over using the source link to explore those)
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/26/ofcom_announces_new_mobile_carriers/
Ofcom has announced that it will award some "thin" mobile phone franchises in May; and the winners include - beside the usual suspects, a company called CyberPress. Is that Pipex?
The bidders are named in the 1781 awards list published today. Micro-cells are the most likely applications, and potential applications for these bands include private GSM networks in office buildings or campuses; most mobile phones operate at these frequencies, Ofcom said.
Dean Bubley at Disruptive Analysis said: "These are 'thin' low-power 1800MHz GSM spectrum licences, which could enable deployment of some innovative business models, using technologies like picocells for indoor cellular services, along with normal low-cost handsets."
Exactly what it will mean, is still far from clear, Bubley said. He listed his guesses as follows:
The price for making GSM calls when users are not actually "mobile" but nomadic (ie at home/work) will plummet. "This has already happened up to a point, but will now accelerate further, especially given other initiatives like dual-mode Fusion-type service launches and (probably) Genion-style HomeZones."
We're going to see businesses exert a much greater level of power over mobile operators. "If large enterprises and government bodies have a choice of 16 mobile operators (and probably countless MVNOs), it seems very likely that corporate cellular tariffs will cease to be such a burden on CIOs' telecom budgets."
it's going to be tricky: "It'll probably take longer to get things up and running than everyone expects. For example, does anyone know what happens when a phone's "network selection" menu has 10+ options shown? Were the menus even designed to cope with that many, perhaps scrolling onto another page?"
a lot of companies that have been ignoring picocells and femtocells are going to sit up and take notice.
lots of network security equipment vendors will have to get their act together. 'Remember the fuss a few years ago when people were plugging "rogue WiFi access points' into enterprise networks & PCs? Welcome to guerilla wireless v2.0 , only this time with cellular."
Bubley said in his blog that he was particularly fascinated by the appearance of a new bidder in the race: Cyberpress. That looks to be either a French-based media company, or a Pipex spinoff.
"Interestingly, it appears on the Pipex CEO's list of current directorships, though," Bubley said.
And today ........
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/03/colt_spectrum/
Colt happy with paying top whack for spectrum
Colt has denied it paid over the odds for a spectrum licence that enables the development of private GSM mobile phone networks in office buildings or campuses.
Details of the 1781.7-1785MHz paired with 1876.7-1880MHz spectrum auction were released today as regulator Ofcom confirmed that the 12 licences which have been awarded raised £3.8m.
But while Spring Mobil AB and Cable & Wireless (C&W) paid just over £50,000 each for their licences, Colt Mobile Telecommunications paid more than £1.5 million to get its hands on the spectrum - £500,000 more than second highest bidder Teleware plc.
Other notable winners in the auction include BT, which stumped up £275,112, O2 which paid £209,888 and Carphone Warehouse-owned Opal Telecom Ltd, which bid £155,555.
Asked whether Colt has got its sums wrong, a spokeswoman for the telco told El Reg: "We're very pleased to have won the licence.
"We are comfortable with what we paid," she said, pointing out that two bidders - Orange and Zynetix - missed out because they only bid £50,000.
For its part C&W has been quick to announce that it plans to use the licence to offer converged fixed mobile services to its corporate customers that could chop up to 30 per cent off mobile bills.
Revelling in the news that C&W's spectrum bid was "achieved at a competitive rate", C&W bigwig David Ellis said: "Our bid price was based on common sense. We'll be investing the money we saved on the licence in delivering a superior service to our customers."
But what, I hear you ask, does this mean for 2G's future - and precisely why does it have a future alongside 3G then?
I suspect that 2G (in all its flavours) will become merely another transmission component of 4G when it arrives. Thus persisting use of the GSM spectrum makes complete sense, particularly for the anticipated 4G terminals that will inevitably make an appearance in due course.
Or could this be Rabbit Mk.II?
Read on ...
(NB: There are live links in the original article, so hop on over using the source link to explore those)
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/26/ofcom_announces_new_mobile_carriers/
Ofcom has announced that it will award some "thin" mobile phone franchises in May; and the winners include - beside the usual suspects, a company called CyberPress. Is that Pipex?
The bidders are named in the 1781 awards list published today. Micro-cells are the most likely applications, and potential applications for these bands include private GSM networks in office buildings or campuses; most mobile phones operate at these frequencies, Ofcom said.
Dean Bubley at Disruptive Analysis said: "These are 'thin' low-power 1800MHz GSM spectrum licences, which could enable deployment of some innovative business models, using technologies like picocells for indoor cellular services, along with normal low-cost handsets."
Exactly what it will mean, is still far from clear, Bubley said. He listed his guesses as follows:
The price for making GSM calls when users are not actually "mobile" but nomadic (ie at home/work) will plummet. "This has already happened up to a point, but will now accelerate further, especially given other initiatives like dual-mode Fusion-type service launches and (probably) Genion-style HomeZones."
We're going to see businesses exert a much greater level of power over mobile operators. "If large enterprises and government bodies have a choice of 16 mobile operators (and probably countless MVNOs), it seems very likely that corporate cellular tariffs will cease to be such a burden on CIOs' telecom budgets."
it's going to be tricky: "It'll probably take longer to get things up and running than everyone expects. For example, does anyone know what happens when a phone's "network selection" menu has 10+ options shown? Were the menus even designed to cope with that many, perhaps scrolling onto another page?"
a lot of companies that have been ignoring picocells and femtocells are going to sit up and take notice.
lots of network security equipment vendors will have to get their act together. 'Remember the fuss a few years ago when people were plugging "rogue WiFi access points' into enterprise networks & PCs? Welcome to guerilla wireless v2.0 , only this time with cellular."
Bubley said in his blog that he was particularly fascinated by the appearance of a new bidder in the race: Cyberpress. That looks to be either a French-based media company, or a Pipex spinoff.
"Interestingly, it appears on the Pipex CEO's list of current directorships, though," Bubley said.
And today ........
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/03/colt_spectrum/
Colt happy with paying top whack for spectrum
Colt has denied it paid over the odds for a spectrum licence that enables the development of private GSM mobile phone networks in office buildings or campuses.
Details of the 1781.7-1785MHz paired with 1876.7-1880MHz spectrum auction were released today as regulator Ofcom confirmed that the 12 licences which have been awarded raised £3.8m.
But while Spring Mobil AB and Cable & Wireless (C&W) paid just over £50,000 each for their licences, Colt Mobile Telecommunications paid more than £1.5 million to get its hands on the spectrum - £500,000 more than second highest bidder Teleware plc.
Other notable winners in the auction include BT, which stumped up £275,112, O2 which paid £209,888 and Carphone Warehouse-owned Opal Telecom Ltd, which bid £155,555.
Asked whether Colt has got its sums wrong, a spokeswoman for the telco told El Reg: "We're very pleased to have won the licence.
"We are comfortable with what we paid," she said, pointing out that two bidders - Orange and Zynetix - missed out because they only bid £50,000.
For its part C&W has been quick to announce that it plans to use the licence to offer converged fixed mobile services to its corporate customers that could chop up to 30 per cent off mobile bills.
Revelling in the news that C&W's spectrum bid was "achieved at a competitive rate", C&W bigwig David Ellis said: "Our bid price was based on common sense. We'll be investing the money we saved on the licence in delivering a superior service to our customers."