mobile broadband

Superfast mobile broadband by 2012?

Consumers of Mobile Broadband will be delighted to learn that they could soon become accustomed to faster mobile broadband connections by 2012, with the recent announcement of a spectrum auction.

Whilst mobile broadband is fast becoming the only way to 'log on' regardless of your location, it is still lacking the speeds capable of a fixed-line.  However this is set to change with the up and coming release of "Next generation" broadband technologies.  Europe has been trialling new LTE technologies but for this to be a reality broadband providers need to find more broadcast spectrums.

The recent move to digital television has now allowed sections of broadcast spectrum to be auctioned off.  This was planned for an earlier date but has been held up for several reasons and now the Government have officially announced the auction is due to take place by the end of next year.  This means the reality of faster mobile broadband may be realised sooner than originally thought.

Communications minister Ed Vaizey made reference to this modernisation when he noted the vast improvements in mobile technologies.  He advised broadband networks need to keep up with the revolutionary improvements and that with the governments mobile technology plans they will finally be able to increase their services and coverage to the latest technologies, thus furthering broadband coverage on mobile phones for UK customers.

Despite the vast improvements in mobile technologies over the last 20 years, customers living in rural areas of the UK still struggle with slow connections and some do not have any access to broadband at all.

With predicted top speeds of 150Mb from the next-generation trials so far, these customers will greatly benefit from the release of faster mobile broadband ,although in reality the speeds expected are more likely to reach 12-15Mb this will still be a welcome upgrade to those with dealing with speeds more in line with a dial-up connection.