Almost 98% of premises in the United Kingdom had outdoor 4G LTE coverage in May
The United Kingdom ended last year with a total of 39.5 million subscribers in the 4G LTE segment, up from 23.6 million at the end of 2014, according to a recent report by U.K. telecom regulator Ofcom.
This figure was equivalent to 46% of all U.K. mobile connections – excluding machine to machine – an 18% increase.
By May 2016, 97.8% of U.K. premises were in areas with outdoor 4G coverage with 71.3% benefitting from similar coverage from all four mobile network operators, and fewer than 10% of premises being covered by one or two operators, according to Ofcom. The report also revealed that 99.2% of premises in urban areas had outdoor 4G coverage at the end of May, compared to 88.9% in rural areas.
The first commercial 4G service was launched in the U.K. in October 2012 by EE after it was granted a license modification allowing it to use its existing 1800 MHz spectrum. Vodafone and Telefónica launched services in August 2013, and Three followed with a London-based release in December 2013, followed by national expansion in March 2014.
At the end of 2015 there were 91.5 million U.K. mobile subscriptions, which included handset subscriptions, dedicated mobile broadband data connections and M2M connections. This was an increase of 1.6 million connections, or 1.8% compared to the previous year. The number of M2M connections totaled 6.7 million at the end of last year, up compared to 6.3 million at the end of the previous year.
In the fixed broadband segment, the U.K. ended last year with a total of 24.7 million subscribers, after a net addition of 1 million subscribers during the year.
Telecom services generated 37.5 billion pounds ($48.7 billion) in revenue in 2015, up 0.5% compared to 37.3 billion pounds in 2014. Revenue from retail mobile services reached 15.2 billion pounds, flat compared to the previous year.
India to award mobile spectrum in September
In India, the government has set Sept. 29 as the official start date for its mobile spectrum auction, local press reported.
The Department of Telecommunications confirmed that interested telcos will have until Sept. 13 to submit applications. A final list of qualified participants will be published on Sept. 23.
The government aims to award 2,200 megahertz of frequencies across the 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2.1 GHz, 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz bands. Licenses will be valid for 20 years.
According to previous reports, the government expects to raise a minimum of 5.44 trillion rupees ($81.3 billion) from the sale.
Local telcos BSNL and Telenor have confirmed that they will not take part in the auction. India’s largest mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, said its participation in the tender could be limited as it does not require a significant amount of additional mobile spectrum.
