4G mobile may arrive this year following Ofcom ruling "Everything Everywhere has submitted an application to Ofcom to use its existing spectrum to deliver 4G services," the regulator said. "Allowing Everything Everywhere to reuse its spectrum in this way is likely to bring material benefits to consumers, including faster mobile broadband speeds and - depending on how Everything Everywhere uses the spectrum - potentially wider mobile broadband coverage in rural areas," Ofcom added. "It comes as a surprise that the regulator is now considering giving the largest player in the market permission to use its existing spectrum for 4G services before the rules for the auction have even been concluded or it has divested spectrum as required by the European Commission," a Vodafone spokesman said. We seriously doubt that consumers' best interests will be served by giving one company a significant head start before any of its competitors have a clear path to 4G. Ofcom has previously said that 4G services would not be rolled out until 2013 or 2014 following a planned auction of certain frequencies. These include parts of the spectrum currently used by analogue TV, which is in the process of being switched off. Matthew Howett, an analyst at telecom adviser Ovum, said: "The proposal to grant [Everything Everywhere's] request is both a win for it and potentially consumers in terms of getting early access to 4G services - by as much as 15 months earlier than its competitors could launch services."