Told by who?nodnirG kraM wrote:From what I've been told, Vodafone's spectrum will be compatible with the 5; O2's however will not so unless O2 can sweet talk Apple, its subscribers will never get 4G on their iPhone 5. EE reports record number of porting from O2 this morning (the earliest opportunity since launch day for porting to take place), so much so that recommendation of 72 hours' wait for completion is currently being offered rather than the standard 24.
Both Vodafone and O2 own spectrum in the 1800MHz range - just like T-Mobile/Orange - but that doesn't really mean anything, as Voda/O2 are both using their frequency to operate 3G services. T-Mobile and Orange were able to identify large chunks of unused frequency allocations, following the merger of their physical network. This left them able to isolate the unused capacity, so that they could apply to Ofcom to convert chunks of it for 4G operations.
Vodafone and O2 don't have the same kind of spare capacity lying around. While it's technically true that some of the spectrum that those operators use in the 1800MHz range would be compatible with the iPhone 5's 4G, without a decent chunk of capacity to free up, and without approval from Ofcom, it doesn't make much difference.
O2 wouldn't need to sweet-talk Apple any more than Vodafone would. Both O2 and Voda have 1800MHz spectrum. The problem isn't that Apple hasn't made a phone compatible with their frequencies; the problem is that they don't have much capacity in the 1800MHz range to be able to convert large chunks of it to operate 4G services.
Some have suggested that Vodafone and O2 are considering an application to Ofcom to convert some of their existing 900MHz spectrum (currently used for both 2G and 3G services) for 4G use. That would allow them to offer 4G to customers much sooner than waiting for Ofcom's 4G licence auctions next year (which will offer spectrum in the 800MHz and 2600MHz ranges only). But the problem is that there's very little support - particularly in Europe - for LTE in the 900MHz range; not only are there currently very few devices supporting 900MHz LTE, but the availability of network infrastructure materiel for 900MHz LTE is also far more limited than for 1800MHz, making the cost of building a 4G network in the 900MHz range much higher (especially compared with European rivals who are largely focusing on the 1800MHz to deliver 4G).
Because of those issues, it's utterly unlikely that either O2 or Vodafone would go down that road, as the costs - of repurposing and building a 4G network at greater expense than its rivals, and then having to subsidise handset development to get manufacturers to build devices with 900MHz LTE support - are far, far too high for what would essentially be a stop-gap until next year's auction. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe that both Voda and O2 have indicated that the 900MHz option isn't really a solution for them.
