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Phoenix666 writes:

El Reg:

Some technologies lurking under the 5G umbrella promise to reshape the entire communications sector, creating new uses and businesses we can't imagine today. Ofcom showed it was hip to a few of these this week with a radical new way of opening up the airwaves.

Ofcom is allowing bidders to run their own local low-power networks at a very low cost, like selling electricity you generate at home back to the National Grid. And this won't even need 5G.

This was announced alongside Ofcom's 700MHz/3.4GHz spectrum auction on 18 December. It's a consultation on sharing three bands of spectrum with a new bidding model. So if you're a campus or an enterprise, a large public space around a town hall, theatre or stadium, you may be able to bid to run your own low-power local network, accessible using popular radio equipment such as a smartphone. Even temporary uses – "Glasto-net"* – are possible.

The Telecoms won't like this.

Original Submission