Yesterday the big names in UK mobile networks all grouped together with Culture Secretary Marie Miller to discuss the future plans for rolling out 4G network coverage across the UK.
O2, Vodafone and Everything Everywhere (the company who owns Orange and T-Mobile) met to discuss the plans for rolling out LTE technology across the UK, and the firms came together to broker a deal with Ofcom to bring 4G services forward by six months.
One of the major issues for some UK networks has been that Ofcom has allowed Everything Everywhere to get access to the 4G network 6 months before O2 and Vodafone are even able to bid on the platform, which give the mega network a very large head start.
With the change that was agreed this gap will be reduced somewhat but with EE launching its network at the end of this month, Vodafone O2 will still have a big hill to climb to catch up.
But in good news for EE, O2 and Vodafone did agree to not pursue any legal actions with Ofcom and Everything Everywhere over the early bird decision with the new changes now agreed on. With this decision the Culture Secretary Marie Miller said “delivering 4G quickly is a key part of our economic growth strategy. I am grateful to the mobile operators for their co-operation in bringing forward vital 4G services.”
“By speeding up the delivery of 4G in the UK, the government is creating enormous opportunities. It is up to the operators to now deliver the services that businesses and consumers expect and we are confident they will succeed.”
This means it’s not all bad news for Vodafone and O2 customers (and coincidentally Virgin Media and Tesco Mobile) as they can now get on with preparing their business and customers for 4G signal.
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