The agency plans to publish a consultation on its assessment of future mobile competition, plus detailed auction proposals, by the end of February 2011.
It then plans to issue a statement on the auction dates and rules, as well as on ensuring competition in light of recent operator and network consolidation, in "early autumn" 2011, with full rules of the spectrum sale to be finalized by year end.
After that, applications from interested bidders, eligibility checks and actual bidding will take place in the first quarter of 2012, with licenses issued to winners by mid-year, and spectrum made available from the start of 2013. However, the full release of those licenses could still take the rest of 2013.
This will make the refarmed GSM frequencies even more vital for carriers and consumers. Ofcom recently ruled that allowing the cellcos to use their spectrum in 900MHz (in the case of Vodafone and O2) and 1.8GHz (Everything Everywhere) for non-GSM technologies would not damage competition.
The partners in Everything Everywhere, Orange and T-Mobile, had previously argued that Vodafone and O2 would have a competitive advantage, because their lower band licenses are more cost effective for covering rural areas, where the main 3G gaps lie.
However, now that the disputes have been addressed, without a requirement for O2 and Vodafone to surrender spectrum, these bands should be released by the end of next year.
Ofcom also recently announced a consultation on using the white spaces in broadcast spectrum for license exempt wireless broadband.
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