Yoigo opened the ban and against all odds the competition has responded with surprising speed. The French company Orange has already officially announced that from July 8 it will offer part of its customers the possibility of accessing fourth generation LTE mobile networks.
In the first stage of its deployment, six will be the cities where the service can be enjoyed. Specifically, they have referred to Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Malaga and Murcia. During the second half of the year, coverage will be extended to another nine cities (Alicante, Córdoba, Bilbao, La Coruña, Las Palmas, Palma de Mallorca, Valladolid, Vigo and Zaragoza) and throughout 2014 they expect to have covered the entire national territory.
Orange will use the 1,800 and 2,600 MHz frequencies, hoping that its channels will allow a flow that enables compatible devices to carry out data transfers of up to 150 Mbps in downloads "" thus based on the category 4 standard "". With this, and as long as these data are registered in the actual use experience, they would obtain a significant advantage over the service that Yoigo will provide from July 18, since the operator majority owned by Telia Sonera has made a commitment to its clients that are marked as peak download peaks of up to 75 Mpbs. There is no doubt that the forecasts advanced byOrange are overly optimistic, so it will be necessary to wait until their LTE network is up and running to assess this commitment.
Unfortunately, the announcement did not include data that is of particular relevance to the industry. On the one hand, it is unknown whether additional fees will be applied for access to the LTE network "" which, initially, is not in the market pools, given that the strategy is more sweet in order to open the fork of the flat rates for navigation ""; on the other hand, the way in which MVNOs that use the Orange network "" for example, Simyo "", could benefit from the situation to provide the same service to their customers, which seems to be the case with the virtual one of the French company (Amena).
With the move made by Yoigo and Orange, a bid was launched against Movistar and Vodafone, which a few months ago were already laying the foundations of their strategy by submitting to the regulator. The Spanish and British operators have not wanted to lose the pulse of the situation, and at the time they pointed out that their bet involves the reordering of the frequency distribution planned for next year, at which time bands such as 800 MHz, currently taken over for broadcasting and receiving DTT channels, they remain free for channeling LTE communications. The move of Movistar and Vodafone It thus fulfills a double function.
On the one hand, avoid hasty investments to adapt your infrastructures and, on the other, ensure quality service. And it is that the 800 MHz band offers a greater power so that the data transmissions in LTE are faster and more stable than the 1,800 and 2,600 MHz ones. In February of this year Eduardo Taulet, CEO of Yoigo, called the trust assuring that the possible fourth generation service that the operator would provide was prepared to satisfy its customers. It would not be surprising, therefore, that in the coming days the two main telephone companies in the country move token entering the rag of the situation.
