Vodafone spends $2m to 'improve services'

Vodafone says its $2 million purchase last week of spectrum in the 890MHz to 900MHz frequency range will be used to improve existing services, not to offer new services or technology.

Vodafone says its $2 million purchase last week of spectrum in the 890MHz to 900MHz frequency range will be used to improve existing services, not to offer new services or technology.

Vodafone engineering general manager Jeni Mundy says the purchase, made during the current spectrum auction, will give the cellular carrier much-needed extra capacity.

“One of the challenges in designing a network is re-using our frequencies, so buying new spectrum gives us more frequency, which will reduce the emphasis on frequency re-use and enable us to produce a better quality service.”

Asked how the return on the $2 million investment would be measured, she says “spectrum is our natural resource, so in terms of how we measure that, it’s not simple”.

Mundy says the price compares favourably with those paid for spectrum in other parts of the world, most notably Europe.

When Computerworld went to press, Vodafone was also bidding for frequency in the 24.5GHz to 26.4GHz range, which is for LMDS (local multi-point distribution service) and in the 3.4GHz to 3.6GHz range, for which other bidders include BCL, Counties Power and UCC, the last linked to the Far North’s “virtual telco” regional broadband project.

Mundy isn’t commenting on Vodafone’s plans for those blocks of frequencies on the grounds that speaking before the successful bidders were announced was premature.

The auction can be found here.

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