O2 has just announced that customers in Bradford, Bristol, Glasgow, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leicester, Sheffield and Liverpool now have access to 3G services on 900Mhz.
The operator has added the nine further cities to 3G900 services already launched in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and London. O2 says the service provides 30% faster data rates on the downlink than existing 3G at 2100MHz. The operator added that network capacity in the areas where 3G900 has been rolled out has also increased by 50%.
When it gave the thumbs up to spectrum refarming, Ofcom said the competitive impact of the clearance would be limited, especially as EE had merged the network operations of Orange and T-Mobile.
Two questions: Is it now becoming apparent that refarming 900MHz spectrum for 3G is, in fact, more than a minor competitive advantage for operators with 900Mhz spectrum? And should some compensation or reparation in kind be made to EE and, more crucially, to 3 UK?