In more Vodafone news, British telecom regulator Ofcom is thinking of taking 900 MHz band spectrum from Vodafone and O2 and auctioning it off to three U.K. rivals: Orange, T-Mobile and 3 UK. The regulator said giving competitors access to spectrum, which only Vodafone and O2 currently have rights to, could save the industry billions of dollars rolling out newer networks.
Ofcom hopes lifting restrictions on the networks would encourage operators to roll out 3G services over the 2G spectrum. It has called for comments from the industry until Nov. 29.
Vodafone and O2 each own a block of about 17.2 MHz of the 900 MHz spectrum; the initial proposal suggests taking back between 5 MHz and 7.5 MHz of each block. Both carriers reportedly said they are still studying Ofcom's proposal.
With the current economic climate, wireless operators face shrinking marketing budgets and reduced consumer spending.
Globally, the credit crunch is very much alive, and operators will be tightening their belts into the foreseeable future by putting off capital purchases.
