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Ofcom announces details of first spectrum
auction
15 February 2006
Ofcom today set in train its first spectrum auction, announcing Tuesday
21 March 2006 as the provisional date for applications. It has now made
the four statutory instruments relevant to this award ahead of an auction
which will take place during March and April.
The auction will comprise a single round of sealed bids for the award
of between seven and 12 low-power licences. These will be technology and
application neutral.
In January 2005 Ofcom proposed a number of awards across a wide range
of the spectrum and in July consulted on the first of these - the spectrum
band 1781.7-1785MHz paired with 1876.7-1880MHz. It received a number of
responses and in November it published further proposals related to the
award along with an Information Memorandum.
A number of organisations have expressed interest in acquiring a licence
to use these bands, suggesting a number of different applications that
might be made possible by access to this spectrum. One example that has
been given is the operation of private GSM networks in office buildings
or campuses, as most mobile phones in current use can tune to these frequencies.
More information on Ofcom's spectrum award programme can be found at
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/spectrumawards/.
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