O2 turns on improved 3G network in London

O2 has switched on a new 3G network across London that takes advantage of the decision by Ofcom in January to give operators the ability to reuse their 2G licences for 3G services.

O2 said that by using its 900MHz holding that was previously only used for 2G services customers in the capital will benefit from a 50 per cent increase in capacity to its existing 3G network.

O2 added that trials of the new network had seen data received up to 30 per cent faster, and it promised customers in other cities such as Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester that they would also benefit from a network upgrade in the coming months.

Ian Fogg, a telecoms and network analyst at research firm Forrester, told V3.co.uk that the move would have significant benefits for smartphones users by providing vastly improved coverage and better connectivity.

"Currently, 3G coverage is sent over 2100MHz spectrum holdings, which is not great for going through buildings, but 900MHz is much better for this so O2 customers should see a vast improvement in in-building coverage," he said.

"Most new devices run 900MHz so smartphone users should see the benefits of faster connections and this will be particularly good news for iPhone 4 customers who have complained about O2's 3G network before."

Fogg added that it was clear that O2 had worked quickly to take advantage of Ofcom's decision, as the work needed to improve its network would have been minimal compared to what will be required for future network technologies.

"O2 has moved quickly as the benefits of reusing 900MHz is that they don't have to build out an entire 4G network on new base stations but can just make a few tweaks to equipment at existing sites," he explained.

"This means most customers won't have to upgrade their handsets either to benefit from the improvement as most new smartphones devices have the ability to access data on 900MHz."

Notable devices that have 900MHz capabilities include the iPhone 4, Google Nexus S, HTC Wildfire, HTC Mozart, and Samsung's Galaxy S, but some popular devices such as the iPhone 3GS do not.

Fogg added that mobile virtual network operators using O2's network should see an improvement too, and that it would be interesting to see if Vodafone announced anything similar in the near future, as it also owns 900MHz spectrum.

The timing of the announcement is significant as it comes a few days after Three's chief executive, Kevin Russell, criticised the government and Ofcom for making the refarming decision, arguing it affected competition and distorted the market.

Interestingly, he had dismissed remarks from Ofcom that the upgrades would take a long time to implement, arguing that O2 and Vodafone engineers would be highly skilled and therefore able to get the new networks running quickly, as has now been proved.