UK 4G Network Trial in Cornwall
Trials are due to start soon of a new 4G mobile phone network in parts of Cornwall that suffer from poor broadband connectivity. The trials will begin in September this year and will make use of phone frequencies recently freed up by the switch from analogue to digital television services in East Cornwall.
Clear Mobitel says the 4G network test aims to gather information on how to best roll out 4G services to other rural areas of the UK which traditionally have had patchy or non-existent mobile broadband coverage. The trial will involve a mobile phone running Google Android as well as USB wireless cards.
Clear Mobitel already has a license to provide 4G phone services to the island of Jersey.
UK 4G Mobile Phone Network Auction in 2011
The UK government has said the frequency spectrum auction for UK 4G mobile phone networks will happen within a year.
The 4G auction will cover an area of the 2.6GHz band frequency band as well as frequencies currently being used for analogue services which will become vacant after the digital TV switchover.
The UK 4G auction was originally due to happen in 2008.
4G Sweden Extended to 100 Cities
The joint 4G network in Sweden run by Tele 2 and Telenor is to be extended to 100 cities.
The Swedish cities taking part in the 4G rollout should be online by the end of next year and include Gothenburg, Malmo, Karlskrona and Lund – those cities will be getting the 4G mobile phone network this year.
The 4G rollout means 99% of mobile phone users in Sweden will have access to 4G by 2013.
Swedish 4G Mobile Phone Network Expands to Visby
Sweden’s 4G mobile phone network is being expanded. Swedish mobile operator TeliaSonera is launching the 4G network in the city of Visby in Gotland.
The new network will cover most of central Visby by the end of this month.
TeliaSonera launched its Stockholm 4G network last year and has plans to have the coverage in 25 cities in Sweden by the end of the year.
Denmark 4G – TeliaSonera Wins License
Mobile phone company TeliaSonera has won a license to operate a new 4G mobile phone network in Denmark. The company expects to start offering the new network to customers in the Spring of 2011.
TeliaSonera already has 4G phone networks in Sweden, Norway and Finland and was the first company to offer a full commercial 4G phone network to mobile phone users with the launch of its city networks in Stockholm and Oslo.
The license lasts for twenty years and will provide speeds of around ten times that of 3G.
EC Approves 4G Mobile Broadband for Europe
The European Commission has approved plans that will use the frequency space currently being used by across Europe by analogue television stations for a new pan-Europe 4G mobile phone network.
Individual European member states will be encouraged by the EC to allocate the 800 Mhz frequency band to 4G mobile internet services in an attempt to implement a 4G mobile network that will work anywhere in Europe. Most European countries are already moving from analogue to digital television broadcasts.
According to mobile phone manufacturer Sony Ericsson, mobile broadband usage is expected to rise from 400 million users to 3.5 billion users worldwide by 2015.