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LG and Prada Team Up For Third Phone
The phone maker has joined with the fashion label once again to create a shiny new handset.

New Battery 10x Capacity 10x Charge Speed
Scientists have redesigned a lithium-ion battery to allow it to charge ten times faster and hold ten times the charge of a standard cell.

BBM Music Busts Into Britain
RIM releases the BBM Music service for a hungry British crowd.

 

Ofcom Ultimatum Over Mobile Broadband

Ofcom Ultimatum Over Mobile Broadband It seems that the Government is keen to see fairness abound and has given a three-month deadline to Vodafone and O2 to agree a scheme with rivals to divide up their 900MHz bandwidth fairly. Five mobile companies are involved in slicing up the spectrum that allows broadband access on mobile phones.

If these two giants fail to reach agreement, Ofcom has said that it will have to force them to give up 14 per cent of their bandwidth share. This could cost both companies hundreds of million of pounds.

The ultimatum is on the back of plans released by the Government to provide broadband internet access to every home by 2012. The 900MHz frequency owned by Vodafone and O2 impacts on these plans as it is the best medium to transmit large quantities of data over long distances. It will also be instrumental in providing wireless internet to remote areas.

Ofcom is trying to please the big two but risks alienating other key players. The regulator initially wanted O2 and Vodafone to relinquish nearly a third of their most valuable spectrum to be sold to rivals in an auction but has backed down to reclaim only 10MHz of the 70MHz capacity owned by the two companies in the 900MHz band.

Companies such as T-Mobile and 3 also want to win a slice of the 900MHz spectrum though. “These proposals neither further competition nor benefit the UK consumer,” Kevin Russell, chief executive of 3 Mobile, said.

Other operators are considering taking legal action against the regulator if it fails to take more of the spectrum back from O2 and Vodafone.


Industry News posted by Romany on 17 February 2009

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