The UK's communications regulator Ofcom has set a March 21 deadline for companies to flag their intention to bid for a prime sliver of spectrum that Britain's millions of existing mobile handsets can tune into and receive, Reuters reported. Ofcom said on Wednesday bids for the 'low-power' licences broadcast at the spectrum bands 1781.7-1785MHz paired with 1876.7-1880MHz, would be assessed between March and April, with companies hoping to bid required to submit their intention to do so by March 21. Ofcom said it had not yet set a date for the final submission of bids, with the successful applications expected to be announced early in the summer. Example uses for the new frequencies would be companies wanting to set up private networks inside their offices, or universities building a network within their campus. Although the low-power nature of the spectrum means it is only suitable for transmitting short distances, it is likely to be highly attractive because it sits within 900 and 1800 MHz -- the two frequencies currently used by the majority of mobile operators such as Vodafone T-Mobile and O2 . --More 21 33 Local Time 18 33 GMT
