New o2 High Speed Data In London

In a press release issued by O2 today it states that O2 has now switched on its new superfast 3G network across London after being granted permission by Ofcom in January to reuse its 900MHZ spectrum for such services. It is the first operator in the UK to make such a move. The 900MHz frequency band was previously only licensed for 2G services in the UK, but it offers the capability to significantly improve the potential of 3G services. Since being granted its new network licence in January, O2 has already deployed 3G900 services in key cities across the UK, including Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester, with other cities set to follow in the coming months.

Rigorous customer experience testing has shown that, on average, O2 customers on 3G900 compatible devices are now receiving data 30% faster than before the new spectrum was allocated for 3G use. Network capacity in the areas where 3G900 has been rolled out has also increased by 50%, allowing more people to take advantage of O2’s high speed data services and in more places.

In the press release o2 said “We invest the equivalent of over £1m a day, every day, in our network, which is used to deliver technologies in a way that goes beyond traditional cellular infrastructure; providing access to a new range of ‘smarter’ services. Our strategy is to intelligently layer our network to give our customers connection to 2G, 3G, HSPA+,LTE and Wi-Fi, seamlessly, simply and at speed.”

In case you wanted to know a 3G900 compatable device is an iPhone4, iPad2 and other UMTS/HSPA 900MHz compatible smartphones or tablets.