Ofcom Chief Concerned Over UK Mobile Broadband Capacity

Mobile broadband services across the UK look likely to exceed their available capacity claims Ed Richards, chief executive at the media regulator Ofcom.

Mr Richards has warned that the ever increasing use of mobile broadband dongles and the rise in web-enabled smartphones use is putting a severe pressure on mobile networks in the UK.

As more and more consumers use mobile broadband services to download media-rich content Mr Richards suggests that we are nearing “the beginnings of a capacity pinch”, as the UK runs out of available spectrum upon which to provide mobile services.

“While demand is booming – mobile data usage has grown by more than 1,800 per cent in the UK in the past two years – the frequencies, or spectrum, upon which it and so many other similar services are carried have not,” Mr Richards commented.

Mr Richards’ comments come just days after research firm Infonetics Research predicted that by 2014, there will be more than 1.8 billion people using mobile broadband services around the world.