Super-fast 4G services set for 2013

 

Broadband-speed internet on your mobile phone: Super-fast 4G services set for 2013

Licences for high-frequency analogue TV bandwidth could raise billions
Broadband-speed mobile network will be available in all corners of Britain
Britain already behind U.S. and Japan who have 4G networks
Hopes that 4G could raise as much as sale of 3G for £22.5bn
Licences for the latest generation of mobile internet – capable of delivering broadband speed to phones on the go – will be auctioned for billions of pounds in a year’s time, it emerged today.

Fourth-generation (4G) services, offering fast connections to British smartphones, laptops and tablet computers, will use the wireless spectrum historically used by analogue TV.

The government could raise huge sums by selling the rights to use the high frequencies between 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz, which are being switched off broadcasting as digital is rolled out.

The auction of 3G licences in 2000 raised a remarkable £22.5billion for the Government from phone companies.

Telecoms regulator Ofcom today revealed the auction will be held in the first quarter of 2012 and 4G services should be available from 2013.