Government frees up more spectrum

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The Government today announced plans to release publicly-owned spectrum for industry to take advantage of.

The proposal will see 500MHz of spectrum freed up over the next 10 years so it can be sold or leased to businesses, the department for media, culture and sport confirmed.

“This is a long-term project to ensure industry is able to meet the growing demand for services that need spectrum,” said communications minister Ed Vaizey.

“The use of smartphones and mobile broadband is set to increase rapidly. Releasing more spectrum over the next decade will be essential if industry is to meet that growing demand.”

The department claimed the Ministry of Defence had already found two bands it was able to release to industry – 2310-2390 MHz and 3400-3600 MHz – which should add up to 160MHz of spectrum alone.

This extra spectrum will compliment the 4G bandwidth set to be auctioned off by Ofcom in 2012.

The Government first made a commitment to freeing up spectrum during the Comprehensive Spending Review back in October. However, it is only today plans have been officially laid out.

Although it is giving up a significant amount, the department confirmed it had future-proofed the proposal and ensured there was enough spectrum kept back for “public safety and national security” purposes.

“We must ensure the public sector uses this valuable resource as efficiently as possible,” added Vaizey.

“If the public sector does not need it, then it should be released so businesses can use it to grow.”

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