U.K. looks to delay 3G trading

The British government is proposing that trading of third-generation wireless network spectrum should not be allowed until at least the end of 2005, despite the financial difficulties facing some 3G license holders. In a consultation document called Implementing Spectrum Trading, published on Monday, the government laid out its plans for the trading of the radio communications spectrum, as recommended by an independent report earlier this year.

The document proposes a progressive introduction of spectrum trading, under which sectors of the spectrum used for certain technologies--such as broadband fixed wireless and GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) mobile networks--would be opened up to trading in a "first wave," probably starting in 2004. 3G spectrum trading could follow two years after this first introduction, the document proposed.

ZDNet U.K.'s Graeme Wearden reported from London.

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