Much has been made recently about the lack of a 4G mobile data connection in the UK as an increasing amount of hardware is becoming available with the technology built in, but unfortunately residents in the country currently have no use for it. Today though we can tell you of a deal between O2 and Vodafone to offer the UK 4G LTE.
The two carriers have announced a joint plan that according to recombu will result in a faster roll out of the higher data speeds in the country. The two companies will be working to build a national network of 18,500 sites, but will be using different bands of spectrum.
According to Vodafone’s press release 98 percent 4G coverage of the UK will be possible by 2015, for both outdoor and indoor locations. Current proposals would require carriers to provide guaranteed indoor speeds of at least 2Mbps by 2015, but O2 and Vodafone believe that the speeds customers will be seeing will be much faster.
This agreement is not a similar move to the recent Orange and T-Mobile merger that saw Everything Everywhere being created, as while the two carriers will be sharing infrastructure, O2 masts will carry O2 traffic while Vodafone will carry Vodafone traffic.
This move may be the result of Everything Everywhere trying to get Ofcom to launch 4G services this year before the big spectrum auction that keeps getting delayed. The agreement between O2 and Vodafone is still at the planning stages, and any deal will need the approval of Ofcom and only then will we have any idea of when a 4G network would become available.
O2 has been testing a 4G network in London and has claimed to have seen speeds of up to 150Mbps from its connections, although those actually taking part in the trials actually saw speeds between 20 and 50Mbps.
Are you looking forward to a 4G network?