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By Paul Sandle
LONDON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Mobile phone operators Vodafone and Three have asked British regulator Ofcomfor permission to re-use their existing airwaves for 4Gservices, following in the footsteps of larger rival EE.
Britain got superfast mobile broadband late last year, longafter countries such as the United States and Japan, when Ofcomallowed EE to run 4G services over itsallocated spectrum.
Ofcom said on Friday it had started a consultation overliberalising more of the spectrum that was previously licensedfor 2G and 3G mobile services in response to the requests.
In a statement that indicated it was keen to press aheadwith the idea, Ofcom said on Friday: "This will meet along-standing objective to liberalise all mobile licences sothat there are no regulatory barriers to the deployment of thelatest available mobile technology".
If implemented, the changes would allow operators to deliver4G services across their existing licences in the 900 MHz, 1800MHz and 2100 MHz wavelength bands, alongside the new airwaves inthe 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands that are up for grabs in anauction.
Ofcom last month started the auction of new radio spectrum,freed up for mobile services after TV switched to digitaltransmissions, for 4G.
Matthew Howett, telecoms regulation analysts at Ovum, saidthe changes would be welcomed by operators and would bringBritain in line with other countries, but the airwaves wereunlikely to be used for 4G services in the near future.
"Despite operators being able to deploy 4G services in thesebands previously restricted to 2G and 3G technologies, most areunlikely to do so in the short term," he said.
"They would first need to be cleared of their existing usethrough a process of refarming that would probably take yearsrather than months, and so the spectrum that is currently beingauctioned by Ofcom will most likely be used for Vodafone, O2 and Three's initial deployment of 4G services."
The auction of new airwaves, which are being sold in 28blocks that can be combined to provide coverage across thecountry, kicked off on Jan. 23 and is expected to last aroundsix weeks. The government has already pencilled in a gain of 3.5billion pounds ($5.5 billion) from the sale.
The closing date for responses to the consultation is March29.
