O2 trials 4G in London

Internet with the launch of the first large-scale public trial in Britain, The Guardian reports.

Initiated by O2, Britain's second-largest operator with 22 million customers, the trial involves more than 25 masts covering 15 square miles in Canary Wharf, Soho, Westminster, South Bank and Kings Cross. It will run for nine months, and the equipment installed will eventually become part of O2's first commercial 4G network.

Mobile News reports the trial will use the 2.6GHz spectrum band under a test and development licence granted to O2 by Ofcom and is an extension of O2′s LTE trials, which have been running at its headquarters, in Slough, since 2009.

The trial, which will run until June 2012, will see over 1 000 individuals from a range of different companies test the technology, which offers speeds of up to 150MB per second on the spectrum used.

"[The] launch of the UK's first 4G London trial network demonstrates our commitment to delivering 4G to our customers at the earliest opportunity," Tech Digest quotes O2's CEO, Ronan Dunne, as saying.

"The work we are doing now will lay the foundations for our commercial 4G network when it launches in the UK."