Labour to argue 4G windfall must boost economy
Billions of pounds generated from the sale of 4G mobile broadband spectrum to the UK's network operators should be used to kick-start the economy, according to Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls.
Mr Balls will use his speech at Labour's conference in Manchester today (October 1st 2012) to highlight his party's plans for the £3 billion to £4 billion that is expected to be generated by the forthcoming 4G auction.
He will call for the money to be spent on building 100,000 new affordable homes over the next two years in a bid to create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
"With this one-off windfall from the sale of the 4G spectrum, let's cut through the dither and rhetoric and actually do something. Not more talk, but action right now," the Shadow Chancellor will say.
The sale is set to take place at the start of next year to give mobile carriers the opportunity to acquire the additional spectrum required to support the rollout of super-fast 4G mobile broadband networks.
Everything Everywhere - the owner of Orange and T-Mobile - is the only operator holding sufficient spectrum to deploy a 4G service ahead of the auction.
