The UK Department of Trade and Industry has awarded Racal Vodafone 40 of the channels reserved for the planned pan-European digital cellular system on condition that it returns them by the end of 1987. British Telecom’s John Carrington said, Cellnet attaches great importance to the fact that the channels are to be handed back. This will be a safeguard to the ETACS, Extended Total Access Communication System, frequencies taken from spare military frequencies last year for both Vodafone and Cellnet to avoid congestion. Telecom lobbied against the idea of using the reserved channels and instead spent UKP22m in 1986 on sectorising 16 base stations in the London area to increase capacity.
