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Ofcom says to take action against O2 re 3G rollout UPDATE |
BobaFett
Joined: Jan 06, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Kamino (wish it would be Lund)
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"LONDON, Feb. 27, 2008 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- The UK Office of Communications (Ofcom) said it will take action against Telefonica SA's (NYSE:TEF) (OOTC:TEFOF) O2 if the mobile operator has not met the 3G rollout obligation by the end of June.
If O2 does not meet the obligation, Ofcom said it will shorten the term of its 3G licence by four months, which then would end on Aug 31, 2021 rather than Dec 31, 2021.
The obligation requires each of the five holders of a 3G licence to rollout their networks to enable the provision of 3G services to at least 80 pct of the population from Dec 31, 2007, Ofcom said.
Ofcom said O2 covered only 75.69 pct of the population, a shortfall equivalent to about 2.5 mln people.
Ofcom estimates that a reduction of the licence term by four months would be equivalent to a significant financial sanction of at least 40 mln stg.
In response, O2 said it has accepted that Ofcom is enforcing the terms of its licence, and the company is confident of meeting the telecoms and media regulator's requirement before June.
O2 acquired its 3G licence for 4.03 bln stg in 2000, and the other 3G licence holders in the UK are H3G, Orange, T-Mobile and
Vodafone.
bsu/sal/bsu/sal/bsu/ejp
Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.
The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News."
http://money.cnn.com/news/new[....]/newstex/AFX-0013-23324153.htm
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Seanyb2
Joined: Jan 26, 2007
Posts: > 500
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Lol where i live my O2 3G coverage is the most solid of any other network.
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rhybo
Joined: Jun 30, 2004
Posts: 25
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in northern ireland 02's 3g coverage is terrible. orange is much better.
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voda_jon
Joined: Nov 28, 2004
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wow! a whole 4 months!!!! how will they cope! |
Sammy_boy
Joined: Mar 31, 2004
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From: Staffordshire, United Kingdom
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I've noticed O2's 3G coverage has improved where I live - only a couple of months ago I could only get 2G, then I could get Edge, and recently I'm getting a 3G signal upstairs! Still rather patchy though. Same story at work, where it was before 2G onlly I now get patchy 2.5/3G signals.
Still a long way to go, hopefully this warning will spur them on.
"All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke
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MWEB
Joined: Feb 13, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: somewhere nicer than you
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Yeah Sammy, i get a solid EDGE connection using O2 sims in my non UMTS phones these days, all thanks to the iphone rollout i believe 
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Sammy_boy
Joined: Mar 31, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Staffordshire, United Kingdom
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Indeed, I have seen a definate improvement in O2's Edge/3G coverage since the announcement that they had the deal with the iPhone!
Though I do suspect that threatening to shorten their 3G contract by 4 months in 2021 isn't worrying O2 too much - we'll probably be on 5 or 6G by then and 3G will be as obsolete as the dial-up wap is in the UK today!
"All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke
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voda_jon
Joined: Nov 28, 2004
Posts: > 500
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plus am sure enough ppl will still have iphones not to rely on 3G lol. |
Miss UK
Joined: Jan 11, 2003
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ive noticed that my mother gets edge on her phone but when I lived with her and I was on 02 i'd only get 3G.
Vodafone seem to have 3.5G HSD?? or whatever it is,
is that available on 02 aswell alot of the time?
An "Apple" a day keeps the Doctor at Bay! |
Sammy_boy
Joined: Mar 31, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Staffordshire, United Kingdom
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I've had a 3.5g signal a couple of times, in the centre of Birmingham and Derby on my N95, but nowhere else so far!
"All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke
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Miss UK
Joined: Jan 11, 2003
Posts: > 500
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it kinda fluctuates btw 3.5G and 3G still where I am
but it loads dead quick pages 
An "Apple" a day keeps the Doctor at Bay! |
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Posted: 2008-02-28 23:10
