The largest mobile spectrum auction in the United Kingdom is under way, with 7 companies bidding to acquire new airwaves for next generation broadband services. Ofcom regulates the bidding process and demands to split the auction in such a way that at least 4 different operators will be able to acquire enough spectrum for 4G services. Thus far, 28 lots of spectrum in two LTE bands (800MHz and 2.6MHz) are on the auction and the bidders include Everything Everywhere, HKT, Hutchison 3G, MLL, Niche Spectrum Ventures, Telefónica, and Vodafone.

Everything Everywhere, the first carrier to offer 4G in the United Kingdom, has recently announced its lower priced tariffs. According to industry experts, this move may be a pre-emptive strike against rivals who will soon start launching their own offerings. It can be said that Everything Everywhere has already attracted a fair degree of criticism due to the amount of data bundled at each level. The carrier is believed to have a difficult role to play being the first mover, but its peers may be grateful for trying to move away from an all-you-can-eat world for information to an attempt to monetize it. And providing a more generous (but capped) data allowance for some users can still be consistent with this pragmatic move.

According to Ofcom CEO, the 4G auction is a significant milestone for the British communications sector, because it will release the raw material for the next wave of mobile digital services. It can change the way people consume digital media for both private and working purposes and deliver considerable benefits to millions of people across the UK.

The auction will last for weeks, but the watchdog expects that the winners will launch new services by late spring or summer 2013. In the meanwhile, analyst house IHS iSuppli has recently carried out a research and predicted that the number of LTE subscribers across the globe would double this year. According to the statistics, an estimated 92 million people used LTE last year and as many as 200 million could embrace it by the end of the current year. Over a billion users are expected to be out there by 2016, making LTE the fastest growing wireless data standard ever.