UK's 4G auction set for year-end

The airwaves needed for next-generation 4G mobile broadband in the UK are set to be sold in a multibillion-pound auction at the end of the year after long delays, although there remains the threat of costly legal objections from big network operators, the Financial Times reports.

Ofcom, the telecoms watchdog, has drawn up guidelines for an auction scheduled by the end of 2012, with plans to ensure that 3, the smallest British mobile network operator, will be protected in buying part of the necessary airwaves.

Fourth-generation, or 4G, mobile services will deliver much faster data speeds to phones and other wireless devices, such as tablets and laptops, enabling rapid downloads and live television streaming on the go, Sky News writes.

But the technology has been available in Germany since 2010, and is already in use in the US, Norway and Sweden, prompting concerns that Britain is falling behind.

The Telegraph reports the auction process was originally to be concluded by the end of this year, and operators dropped heavy, optimistic hints that their services would even be offered for sale in time for Christmas. But threats of legal action from all sides meant Ofcom ended up launching two consultations on how to run the auction, and then finally conceded that the process would not conclude until 2013.

While it's unfashionable to support the regulator, it seems likely that any other outcome would have ended up with the operators in court anyway and delayed the process even further. While that outcome is still not impossible, it is now less likely.