UK regulator Ofcom today announced "proposals for consultation" to allow more efficient use of mobile spectrum, enabling the progression from 2G to 3G wireless services.

"Ofcom expects to create more flexibility and wider access to the spectrum leading to improved rural coverage, faster data speeds and lower prices," writes VNUnet's Ian Williams.

"Our proposals are designed to make more spectrum available for high-speed mobile broadband services across the whole of the UK, and to ensure that the UK mobile market continues to be one of the most competitive and innovative in the world," says Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards.

"The consultation is just starting and any auction of freed up frequencies could be held as early as 2009, with new services scheduled to start a year later," writes EE Times' John Walko. "The regulator suggested the economic benefit of liberalizing the spectrum could be about £6 billion for the U.K."

More here from BBC News ... more here from ZDNet UK ... more here from the Daily Telegraph ... more here from Techworld ... more here from Pocket-lint ... and Ofcom's press release is here.