The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has given its blessing to the “early 2026” introduction of short “notice, short duration licences” for outdoor and indoor use in the 2320-2340MHz radio spectrum band, which could support everything from pop-up 4G and 5G mobile (broadband) coverage to TV broadcasting etc.
The idea seems to be that companies and organisations could harness the spectrum to power temporary mobile networks (e.g. 4G and 5G), such as for news-gathering and broadcast of major events, sports coverage, pop-up mobile coverage and private network demonstrator events. Such solutions already exist (e.g. Cells on Wheels [CoW]), so this is extending that sort of capability.
“We expect that the new short notice, short duration licence product will be available to applicants from early 2026. We will provide an update on our PMSE licensing and Shared Access pages when the new product becomes available. Applications will initially be made through our usual PMSE licensing processes, although the product will be available to any user meeting the licence conditions,” said Ofcom’s statement.
