British government gives 5 companies 4G mobile contracts

4G services are available on iPhone 5 and 4G smartphones The British government raised a less-than-expected amount from its 4G mobile auction that will result in five companies providing the country with super-fast mobile Internet services, a watchdog said on Wednesday.
Telecoms watchdog Ofcom said the total bidding came to £2.341bn, significantly less than the £3.5bn forecast last year by the government. The licence fees cover a period of 20 years.
"After more than 50 rounds of bidding, Everything Everywhere Ltd, Hutchison 3G UK Ltd, Niche Spectrum Ventures Ltd (a subsidiary of BT Group plc), Telefonica UK Ltd and Vodafone Ltd have all won spectrum," Ofcom said on Wednesday.
"This is suitable for rolling out new superfast mobile broadband services to consumers and to small and large businesses across the UK," it added in a statement.
Vodafone, which successfully bid £790m for its licences, welcomed the outcome.
"We've secured the low frequency mobile phone spectrum that will support the launch of our ultra-fast 4G service later this year," Vodafone UK chief executive Guy Laurence said in a separate statement.
"It will enable us to deliver services where people really want it, especially indoors."
Britain had in fact launched 4G services in October last year, allowing the country to catch up with the global roll-out.
Everything Everywhere -- formed by the merger of the Orange and T-Mobile networks in Britain -- went live with the service ahead of the full auction result.
4G, which operates five times faster than the current 3G network, allows users to download large e-mail attachments quickly, watch live television without buffering, make high-quality video calls and play live games on the go.
The service is available on Apple's iPhone 5 and 4G phones from HTC, Samsung, Nokia and Huawei.
Britain has meanwhile lagged behind the global roll-out of 4G, with about 45 countries -- including the United States, Germany and parts of Asia -- already offering the super-fast service to businesses and consumers.
Ofcom on Wednesday added that there had been failed 4G bids from MLL Telecom Ltd and HKT (UK) Company Ltd.
Britain's government meanwhile earned a huge £22.5bn in 2000 from its 3G licence sales, which came at the height of the dotcom bubble.
Source: AFP