Ofcom has today introduced a new measure that it says will help mobile phone operators to increase mobile broadband speeds, deliver improved in-building coverage and widen mobile broadband coverage in rural areas.
From today the airwaves used by mobile phone operators for 2G services, such as making phone calls and sending texts, will be available to provide 3G services, such as mobile internet browsing.
Mobile phone operators could previously only use a limited amount of spectrum – the airwaves that mobile phones and other wireless devices use to communicate – to deliver 3G.
The remainder of their spectrum holdings was licensed in the 1990s with a condition that it could only be used for 2G services – mainly voice calls and text messages. This spectrum could in future be used to meet the growing demand from smartphone devices and the like for 3G services, says Ofcom.