Telefonica-owned O2 UK has been given a trial license from UK regulator Ofcom to test LTE in the 800MHz frequency band, reports Light Reading Mobile. Using kit from Chinese vendor Huawei, O2 will kick-off the trial in the third quarter of 2010 in the UK city of Carlisle. The move will establish O2 as the first mobile operator in the UK to test LTE in the so-called ‘digital dividend’ spectrum, the bandwidth that is being freed-up due to the switch to digital TV. According to Robert Joyce, radio evolution manager at O2, one of the goals of the trial will be to monitor for possible interference between the mobile LTE services and broadcasters’ services. “The problem with the 800MHz band is the concern over interference issues between LTE and [broadcasters’] services,” said Joyce, adding that the trial will help “to better understand the interference issues, if any.” Vodafone Germany has conducted 800MHz LTE trials in partnership with broadcasters to test the same issue.

According to the report, O2 started lab testing LTE in the 2.6GHz band in September last year and has just begun friendly user trials using LTE dongles from Samsung. The trial forms part of parent Telefonica’s six-country LTE trial initiative. The group has similar trials underway in the Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, Argentina and Brazil. The group is using the trials to test LTE equipment from a variety of suppliers. It is using NEC in Argentina, Alcatel-Lucent in Brazil, Nokia Siemens Networks in the Czech Republic, Ericsson and ZTE in Spain, and Huawei in the UK.