Communication specialists questions government’s 4G plans

By 4G Mobile Broadband

August

4

2011

According to recent reports the 4G spectrum allocation plans of the government in the UK are being called into question by communications experts.

It has been reported recently that the plans of the UK government over spectrum allocation for 4G services have been called into questions by communications experts. It is reported that officials from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) have urged the government to take “radical steps to ensure that regulation does not continue to be a serious barrier to growth”.

Professor Will Stewart from the IET said: “Growing demand for broadband is stretching the capability of existing networks. Wholesale network competition must perform better or we will fall further and further behind consumer expectations.”

The institute said that it does not believe that there is scope to keep up with the soaring demand for services and capacity when it comes to mobile broadband and internet facilities. The IET said: “Additional spectrum will only provide modest gains and will not satisfy the rapid growth demand in data services. The move to ever higher reaches of the radio spectrum (to build data capacity) is driving a shrinkage of “effective” mobile coverage with enhancing capacity.”

Mr Stewart added: “Concern in this area is driven by the need to support new smartphone and other mobile services where coverage, regulatory and capacity issues are already serious enough to be a limit on new services. The current mobile regulatory framework, far from coping with these new challenges, has become part of the problem.”

Source – Electronics Weekly