Six global operators form 4G lobbying group

Six of the world's biggest mobile operators have formed a lobbying group aimed at preventing a repeat of the struggles operators faced from paying exorbitant amounts for 3G licenses. Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange, KPN, NTT DoCoMo and China Mobile have formed the Next Generation Mobile Network (NGMN) Forum that will lobby regulators to allow operators to use their existing spectrum to run super-fast wireless broadband services, or 4G. They don't want to see governments looking at 4G as a way to cash in. While the U.S. allows operators to migrate their networks to next-generation services without having to buy new spectrum, Europe's regulators have largely prohibited operators from migrating to more advanced technology in their existing GSM bands. Now operators want to deploy technologies such as WiMAX and other high-speed broadband technologies, but they don't want to be forced to buy new spectrum to do it. Of course, some of the problems in the 3G world came from these operators' own doing. In the U.K. alone, operators spent more than $28 billion on licenses they bid for.

To read more about the new lobbying group opposing 4G licensing:
- check out this article from The Guardian