Ofcom auction paves the way for 4G

Remember the stampede created by the auction for 3G licences? It could all be about to happen again. Ofcom is has confirmed it'll be auctioning off a colossal 205MHz of spectrum - its largest ever release - in the bands most suited to mobile broadband.

This time, though, it won't be so much which networks win - but which technology. American favourite WiMax, which has already begun a limited roll-out here thanks to Freedom4, will be going head to head with 'son-of-3G' LTE (Long Term Evolution) UMTS.

Current thinking is that LTE will be the chosen technology here and in the rest of Europe where heavy investment has already been made in similar 3G technologies. Back in February, Motorola showed off its vision for 4G over LTE (pictured) with hi-def video beamed from handsets to TVs back home, and HD TV shows sent the other way to handsets, similar to today's standard def SlingBoxes.

For data and web browsing, LTE data cards or laptops could see speeds of more than 100Mbps - significantly faster than the current maximum of 7.2Mbps over HSDPA. WiMax, on the other hand, manages up to 70Mbps.

The auction will take place in the summer but it could still take several years before the first wide-spread services are actually made available to consumers.

[ Zdnet.co.uk]