The legal wrangling that has afflicted the sale and allocation of the digital spectrum may soon come to an end, with the UK government planning on holding auctions before 2010 is over.

The spectrum that is currently being disputed will eventually provide better mobile broadband availability and speeds for UK customers and it is hoped that the first services using it will be in operation by 2012.

Industry regulator Ofcom and the Department of Business Innovation and Skills ratified plans to sell the spectrum last week, signalling the conclusion of a long period of consultation that began in mid 2009.

Minister Stephen Timms said that the government had ensured that public interests were being protected under the new plans, but also confirmed that the business benefits would be considerable if the plans for the mobile broadband spectrum were instigated.

Mr Timms also said that high speed mobile broadband access would be available to a large proportion of the population as a result of the new plans.

The plans had to undergo some revisions after Orange and T-Mobile finalised a merger deal that was subsequently approved by the EU. The most important change for the networks and the public is the obligatory roll-out of near universal mobile broadband coverage falling at the feet of whichever organisation buys the 800MHz spectrum.

The range that is currently utilised by ageing 2G networking technology will be replaced with 3G and eventually 4G under the new plans and most mobile broadband providers will be able to make substantial improvements to their services as a result.

Experts believe that the auction will take place in early 2011. Simple Broadband’s Simon Gerrard said “The improvements that must now be made to the speed and availability of mobile broadband are exciting for all and incentives such as the Orange mobile broadband free laptop deal could soon be accompanied by tempting 4G options.”