In response to Lord Carter’s Digital Britain report, Orange has shown its interest in creating a network that would expand connectivity to reach people living anywhere in the country, but only if it is duly rewarded in return.

The government has lately stepped up its efforts to make mobile broadband accessible to people in the rural areas. Orange has come forward to take up this challenge, even as T-Mobile has said it would be unable to provide 2Mb mobile broadband to these areas because of lack of a clear business case.

In return, Orange wants some of the mobile broadband spectrum, which Ofcom is trying to take away from O2 and Vodafone. The spectrum is intended to expand the coverage of mobile broadband across the country. Orange also wants some of the spectrum that will be freed up as digital TV becomes more pervasive. Furthermore, the company has also requested for an extension of its 3G license for an indefinite period. If you’re interested in keeping up to date with what’s going on with these top broadband providers, click mobile.broadbandgenie.co.uk for all the latest offerings in mobile broadband.

In terms of spectrum reallocation, the T-Mobile – 3 UK partnership and the expected O2 – Vodafone partnership will certainly have more leverage due to their larger size and lower costs. Thus, Orange is at a distinct disadvantage, as it is the last to participate in a network sharing arrangement. This will concern the company somewhat as it tries to negotiate with the government for more favourable terms in return of its investments in mobile broadband for rural areas.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 at 6:20 am and is filed under Consumers Den, The Technology Way, The Telecommunication Way. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.