Telefonica-owned O2 UK got a green light from the UK regulator Ofcom to test LTE in the 800MHz frequency band. Using the Huawei kit, the carrier will start the trial in the third quarter of this year in the city of Carlisle.
This new trial effectively makes O2 the first carrier in the UK to test LTE in the so called “digital dividend” spectrum, the bandwidth that is being freed-up due to the switch to digital TV. One of the goals of the trial is to monitor for possible interferences between the mobile LTE services and broadcasters’ services.
The new trial forms part of Telefonica’s six-country LTE trial initiative to test LTE equipment from a variety of suppliers. For instance, in Argentina the carrier is using NEC’s equipment, Alcatel-Lucent in Brazil, Nokia Siemens Networks in the Czech Republic, Ericsson and ZTE in Spain, and now Huawei in the UK.
And for the record, O2 is not the first mobile operator to test LTE services in the 800MHz band. Vodafone Germany has trialed the service in partnership with broadcasters to test the same issue.
[Via: MobileBusinessBriefing]