| T-Mobile Gives up Legal Action against Ofcom |
| 04.07.09 | |
In a surprising move, T-Mobile recently dropped out of the litigation against Ofcom that was jointly started by it with O2 in May last year. The subject of litigation was the sale of the 2.6Hz spectrum.
The 2.6GHz spectrum is the range that has been marked as best suited to 4G services like LTE. Quite a stir was created when Ofcom announced it would soon be selling off the spectrum to the highest bidder. The problem was that with other spectrum allocations, especially the 900MHz reallocation, still undecided, it is hard for the industry to assess how much this new spectrum is really worth.
Thus, in May last year, O2 and T-Mobile jointly initiated litigation against Ofcom to stop the auction from taking place before a decision could be made. They succeeded in delaying the auction, which Ofcom planned to have completed by now.
It must also be noted that stalling of the auction has also stopped LTE’s rival WiMax from hitting the 2.6GHz spectrum. This obviously is good news for mobile operators who are in support of LTE. Now that T-Mobile has dropped out, only O2 remains as a roadblock for Ofcom.
Ofcom has repeatedly said that the 900MHz reallocation and 2.6GHz spectrum sale have absolutely nothing to do with each other, and that it intends to go ahead with the auction later this year. For the latest news in 3g broadband, click here.
