On Friday, Ofcom, the UK's Office of Communications, announced they would auction 40 MHz of radio spectrum, from 1452 to 1492 MHz in the first quarter of next year. The upper 12.5 MHz would be dedicated to satellite radio, which is a pan-European requirement as regulated by the ITU. The UK is required to protect that block from interference with neighboring countries' satellite radio. The rest of the spectrum is unrestricted and technology neutral, a free-for-all. BT's Movio, a mobile digital TV product based on the Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) standard, works in that lower block of spectrum, as do mobile TV systems based on DVB-H and wireless broadband based on WiMax. Ofcom is willing to break up the lower block of spectrum into multiple lots, and licenses would be good for a minimum of 15 years. Responses to Ofcom's Consultation (i.e. public comment period) must be in by June of this year.

[via ZDNet UK]