News - 4G is late arriving, but at least we have some timeframes

[HEXUS]

Roll-out expected mid-2013 with bids taking place around the new year.

Read more.

[jimborae]

That's looks like a highly optimistic time frame to me and I'll bet the networks are trying really hard not pay out anything like the £40 billion estimated, considering that the £22 billion paid for 3G seemed like a bad deal.

[crossy]

All this should hopefully mean a roll-out will take place around the summer of 2013, with Ofcom promising that eventually, 4G coverage will reach 98 per cent of the population.

So that's 98% coverage by 2033 then? I'm not hopeful of seeing a fast 4G rollout since there's plenty of urban and near-urban areas that cannot see anything more than a basic 2G service at the moment.

Also if they're asking £40 billion then I think they may be disappointed - I was under the impression that there was a LOT of grumbling by the teleco's that they got royally shafted for the 3G licenses, so asking them to stump up a whole lot more cash in a time of recession seems ill-advised to say the least.

With a bit of luck ALL the telco's will look at the costs and say "no thanks", since it's safe to assume that if the 4G licenses are overpriced, then the teleco's will build that extra cost into the price charged for 4G services - so 4G will be only for businesses (claiming it as an expense) and the well off (wanting bragging rights).

[HalloweenJack]

4g is allready being rolled out - orange are allready starting it on existing 3g frequencies (testing in cornwall currently for national roll out end of the year) = Ofcom are far too slow and likely will get ignored

[crossy]

4g is allready being rolled out - orange are allready starting it on existing 3g frequencies (testing in cornwall currently for national roll out end of the year) = Ofcom are far too slow and likely will get ignored

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that the Orange "rollout" was actually only an OfCom permitted trial - which isn't the same thing as a proper licensed, nationwide rollout.

Actually I'm kind of surprised that someone didn't suggest trying to get some 4G rollout done for this Olympics that London's having. Might help to make the UK look a little less backward to the countries like Korea and Japan who have fancy comm's setups.

[Lorcaran]

£40 Billion just so a teleco can use 4G means slower roll outs and less money invested into infrastructure. 4G should be encouraged not sold off like a Ming Vase, yes the Government needs to maintain a revenue stream but lets face it they allowed Vodafone to avoid £6 billion in tax anyway so the phone companies end up clawing it back in sneaky ways.

Plus a lot of the companies are sharing mast's now so they may well enter into joint bids.