O2 wins largest spectrum share in latest auction

[Chris_K]

We're proud to announce our £500M+ investment in the latest spectrum auction. That’s what powers a network, and ours is about to get even better. How, exactly? Our spectrum acquisition means more 4G for you as well as being 5G ready for the future, and help boost connectivity in the UK.

Welcome to a new Mobile Britain. See our full press release here.

Headlines:

• Telefónica UK (O2) wins largest spectrum share in latest auction, investing £523.6 million in 80MHz and further demonstrates Telefónica’s commitment to the UK Market.
• The company obtained 40MHz of immediately useable spectrum (2.3GHz) and 40MHz of spectrum expected to be used in the launch of 5G (3.4GHz).
• New 4G airwaves to be switched on for customers within 24 hours of ability to deploy

[jonsie]

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@Anonymouswrote:
Watch it go to London and the rest of the country is left with what we have already...

Same stuff different day

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Hope you're wrong there. ....

[calviin]

For stupid people like me what does this actually mean?

Faster 4G speed i am guessing?

[gmarkj]

There are two things to consider:
1 - frequency and
2 - volume.
If you think of a mobile signal like a road - the different frequencies are the different types of road. Some roads go further (penetrate more, ie will/won't go through buildings) and some roads have more lanes (more capacity for more connections.
3G is a bit like a dual carriageway. Lots of them around, and allow for medium amounts of traffic.
4G is like a motorway - more limited, but can allow for more traffic.
The issue is that motorways are limited in where they are, mainly being in central/busy areas. And just like motorways, the more people on it the slower you end up going.
With o2 buying more volume (MHz) of a band that is already in use, in theory the speed for the number of connections should increase.
They have also purchased some of the next band that will be made available for use.
So in the road example, they have added more lanes to existing roads and have also purchased the land to build new roads on.

Some more information if you like:
https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/How-to-Guides/What-is-2G-3G-and-4G-New-Update-21st-Sept-2015/ba-p/2862...

[Chris_K]

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@jonsie wrote:

I am very pleasantly surprised with this. Just when approximately will we see the switch on? 

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As soon as it becomes available and usable to us*, very very soon after - right now we're hoping to add additional capacity to a number of cell sites towards the end of next week, with more throughout the month - and extending through to the rest of the year.

* Pending finalisation, paperwork and the usual processes on Ofcom's end.

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@Anonymous wrote:
Watch it go to London and the rest of the country is left with what we have already...

Same stuff different day

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There's a degree of work and optimisation we'll need to do to identify the areas that'll benefit most from the increased capacity, to ensure our investment in the additional spectrum is being used in the best, most efficient way for our customers. That said though, expect 4G improvements up and down the entire country - not just London! 

[Anonymous]

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@Chris_Kwrote:

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@jonsiewrote:

I am very pleasantly surprised with this. Just when approximately will we see the switch on? 

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As soon as it becomes available and usable to us*, very very soon after - right now we're hoping to add additional capacity to a number of cell sites towards the end of next week, with more throughout the month - and extending through to the rest of the year.

* Pending finalisation, paperwork and the usual processes on Ofcom's end.

---

@Anonymous wrote:
Watch it go to London and the rest of the country is left with what we have already...

Same stuff different day

---

There's a degree of work and optimisation we'll need to do to identify the areas that'll benefit most from the increased capacity, to ensure our investment in the additional spectrum is being used in the best, most efficient way for our customers. That said though, expect 4G improvements up and down the entire country - not just London! 

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Yeah I’d like to think that too... we’ll see I guess.....

but second class citizen we’ll always be...

[pgn]

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@Chris_K wrote:

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...expect 4G improvements up and down the entire country - not just London! 

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And hopefully across the country so this far north-western outpost gets a bit more:

[jonsie]

Thank you for that @Chris_K 😀

[Skyhawk1010]

Well something I’ve noticed here in Barry, South Wales.

There's been a bit of a jump in the signal strength at my home address, up to 5 bars now pretty much everywhere in the house. Data speed however is pretty constant c 35mbs. 

I am so looking forward to this spectrum coming into use next week. 

O2 needs every last little bit of increased capacity it offered. 

Hoping some of it will work its way into Wales to give a much needed boost to speed.

Finally is my Sony XZ Premium going to shoe the 4G+ icon when in 2300mHz coverage? 

[Anonymous]

@Skyhawk1010 if you already have around 35Mbps that’s really good, Manchester City centre is around 0.2 Mbps if you’re lucky to be able to perform a check, most of the times you just get “error, couldn’t complete the test”
I’ve seen 4G+ and horrible speeds, it might be farmed masts using 1800Mhz 4G, but they’re still not great and not available everywhere.
Hopefully LTE 40 (2300) becomes available to more cities than just London, but only time will tell.

[Skyhawk1010]

I agree its better than a lot of other places for O2 which has suffered from terrible 4G congestion for a long time, Manchester City Centre being one of the worst.

I’m getting faster speeds still out of Three c 70mbs and EE c 85mbs on a regular and repeated basis, maybe I’ve been a bit spoiled?

A couple of my ex work colleagues live in London, not far from London Bridge who used to swear by O2’s 4G coverage on their iPhone 6s handsets but had suffered a drop in their data speeds and signal strength. This spectrum cannot come soon enough for them, it will probably determine whether they stay on O2 and get iPhone 8’s or beggar off to Vodafone.

One things for certain, its going to stop an awful lot of disgruntlement when it sees the light of day.