Ofcom Starts Yet Another Spectrum Auction

Coming next spring – the fifth UK radio spectrum auction, from Ofcom.

British government communications watchdog Ofcom has announced that it will begin its fifth radio spectrum auction next spring.   The L-Band, as its known,covers 1452-1492 MHz, should prove popular, since it’s best suit to multimedia services, including broadband wireless access and mobile television.   The auction comes as part of a widerinitiative.   “The release of the spectrum in the 1452-1492MHz band is part of a wider program to release around 400MHz of spectrum at prime frequencies below 3GHz, " Ofcom announcedin a statement."Other awards in this program include the digital dividend, the highly-valued spectrum that will be freed up through the switch to digital television, plus Channel 36 which iswithin the television bands, and the 2.6GHz bands."   The announcement arrives just days after Ofcom announced the fourth radio spectrum auction which includes the frequencies forhigh-speed Wi-Fi.