Government unveils plans for future spectrum releases

The government has published a document detailing how it plans to release 500MHz of spectrum currently being used by public sector organisations to help network operators improve mobile broadband offerings.

The Enabling UK Growth - Releasing public spectrum (PDF) document outlines the government's strategy to meet this goal by 2020, and asks those in the industry to put forward recommendations on how this can best be achieved.

Communications minister Ed Vaizey explained that making the spectrum available is vital to help meet the growing demand for mobile data, and will ensure that the  UK makes the most of its available spectrum.

"The use of smartphones and mobile broadband is set to increase rapidly. Releasing more spectrum over the next decade will be essential if industry is to meet that growing demand," he said.

"We must ensure that the public sector uses this valuable resource as efficiently as possible. If the public sector does not need it, then it should be released so that businesses can use it to grow."

The report said that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has identified two bands from which it expects to release 160MHz of spectrum within the 2,310MHz-2,390MHz and 3,400MHz-3,600MHz ranges.

The rest of the spectrum could come from the 2,700MHz-3,100MHz, 3,100MHz-3,400MHz and 4,400MHz-5,000MHz bands, which the government has identified as being likely holdings that could be freed up.

The 3,100MHz-3,400MHz and 4,400MHz-5,000MHz bands are also owned by the MoD, which is assessing them for release suitability, while the 2,700MHz-3,100MHz band is used by the MoD, the Civil Aviation Authority and the Maritime Coastguard Agency, all of which are working together on a possible release.

The releases will complement the forthcoming release of new spectrum in the 800MHz and 2.6MHz ranges that could be used for so-called 4G services which will be live by 2014.