Last night it was revealed that "peace talks" brokered
by Maria Miller, the new Culture Secretary, and Ofcom have led to
agreement between UK mobile operators that will allow the 4G
auction process to continue unimpeded, notwithstanding Ofcom's
controversial decision in August to allow Everything Everywhere
("EE") to use their existing 1800 MHz spectrum to launch
4G services this year (ahead of the formal auction process).
Following that August announcement, there have been rumours of
Vodafone and O2 considering whether to formally challenge the Ofcom
decision, which has supposedly in turn led to EE putting the brakes
on announcing a formal service launch. The other UK mobile network
operator, Three, has reportedly concluded a deal to purchase
additional 1800 MHz spectrum from EE (fulfilling a condition
required at the time of the merger between Orange and T-Mobile to
form EE), although again it was not expected that they would have
been able to commence use of this
