2012 Olympics will ‘more than double’ the normal UK wireless spectrum load

Athletes aren’t going to be the only ones testing their limits at the 2012 London Olympics. Ofcom, which regulates UK communication technology, has announced that it will be assigning up to 20,000 wireless frequencies for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, more than double the amount of spectrum that’s usually needed in a year. Frequencies will be used by everything from wireless cameras and microphones to electronic scoring systems, all of which will need to be managed by Ofcom to minimize interference with each other.

Many frequencies, Ofcom says, are already being used at full capacity in London. In order to provide enough spectrum for the Games, Ofcom will be temporarily borrowing from other public sector groups like the Ministry of Defence and deploying a system to automatically assign frequencies and detect potential interference. The office also says it’s going to be using spectrum that’s currently waiting to be auctioned off, presumably the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands that are set to become the UK’s LTE backbone. At least British readers will have more shots of Usain Bolt to tide them over in the wait for 4G.