In the UK there are 2 ways to get access to long-term spectrum. It's also usable from a bands and handets perspective! 1. Shared access licence. There's 3.3 MH

In the UK there are 2 ways to get access to long-term spectrum. It's also usable from a bands and handets perspective! 1. Shared access licence. There's 3.3 MHz (duplex paired) of former DECT guardband available for local use at the top of the 1800 MHz band. This should work fine to run 2G or 4G. There's 10 MHz of TDD at 2390 to 2400 MHz, indoor use only I believe, and most useful for 4G. There's also 3.8 to 4.2 GHz which allows outdoor use, and is dedicated shared spectrum for 5G. Transmit power limited aren't enough to run a big commercial network, but are enough to deploy a private network on a campus or private site. The former two should be widely supported on handsets. The latter (5G option) is aligned with band N77. 2. If you're in a rural area, get a local access licence to "take" existing operator spectrum and use it legally, with 3 years max tenure. It can be renewed if the operator has no intention to use it. Operators don't like this, as they see spectrum as their owned property, but this isn't the case, and they only have a right to use it... The process of getting a local access licence is deliberately complicated by operators as they don't want you doing it, but it can be done. You need to understand the technology and commercials of the industry though to realistically be successful. Some operators want you to talk to them first, others want you to talk to Ofcom first. If you know what you're doing, and make a strategically selected request for spectrum, it can be done. You can operate a commercial service in this spectrum, but you have to be clear to users the time-limited nature of spectrum access. Going forward though, it's clear from Ofcom's own priorities that a more dynamic nature of spectrum allocation and utilisation authorisation is a priority and likely to be coming down the line - it's been a work item the last couple of years. Once that comes, we could see easier ways to access spectrum. Realistically though, operators will do what they can to make spectrum access complex, to preserve a final moat in a market of 10+ years of continued reduction in average revenue per user.