A standard 2.3 GHz site must be roofed and wholly enclosed, apart from doors, windows and passageways.
Free the Spectrum
Mobile spectrum should serve people, not keep community networks at the door.
Cut the fees. Open the spectrum. Let communities build.
Established national operators can plan around broad, long-term spectrum rights. A community network is pushed between two inadequate choices: a standard 2.3 GHz Shared Access route that is charged by the local area and confined indoors, or a £950 Local Access licence that normally lasts three years with no guaranteed route to continue. Lodestar is setting out to build what we intend to become the UK's first community-built mobile network. The rules must make that possible.
The unequal starting line
Community infrastructure cannot be temporary by design.
People should not have to wait for their street, village or neighbourhood to fit a national rollout model before local action is allowed.
Lodestar's model is built around local hosts, low-cost radios and a working UK mobile core. Lower licence costs and coordinated outdoor cells could let communities add useful local coverage and capacity, and help make lower-cost services viable.
The technology exists. The core network exists. People are ready to host cells. What is missing is a licensing system designed to let a community network survive.
That cannot become dependable public infrastructure if every separated site carries repeated fees, outdoor use has no ongoing Shared Access route, or continued Local Access can disappear at the next application.
At current prices, 100 separate Shared Access areas cost £8,000 a year for 10 MHz or £16,000 a year for 20 MHz. At Lodestar's planned £5 monthly tariff, £16,000 is roughly the full headline annual subscription revenue from 267 customers, before any of it pays for radios, power, backhaul, the core network or support.
| Question | Established national operator | Community operator |
|---|---|---|
| Where can it plan? | Across spectrum licensed on a national or wide-area basis | A 50 m Shared Access area or a bespoke Local Access location |
| Can standard 2.3 GHz Shared Access work outdoors? | Not the route used for national spectrum holdings | No. The ongoing product is currently indoor-only |
| Can Local Access continue? | The incumbent's deployment rights remain | No renewal. A new application is required and is not guaranteed |
| How is local expansion charged? | National spectrum has its own acquisition costs, fees and conditions | £80 or £160 each year per Shared Access area, or £950 per Local Access licence |
The point is structural, not that national spectrum is free. National operators have paid for spectrum and remain regulated. The difference is that they can invest around broad existing rights, while a community operator must assemble limited local permissions one place at a time.
Barrier one: Shared Access
The lower-cost route stops at the front door.
Ofcom's ongoing 2.3 GHz Shared Access product offers 2320 to 2340 MHz and 2390 to 2400 MHz. These are two limited slices within LTE Band 40, not the whole band. The product is currently indoor-only.
23002320234023902400 MHz
Not offered
2320 to 2340
10 or 20 MHz Not offered 2390 to 2400
10 MHz
10 or 20 MHz Not offered 2390 to 2400
10 MHz
Base stations are limited to 24 dBm EIRP per carrier under the current standard product.
Each licence request covers a circle with a 50 m radius. Separated community hosts normally need separate areas.
Each licensed area costs £80 a year for 10 MHz or £160 for 20 MHz. Ten separated areas cost £800 or £1,600 every year.
Ofcom assesses applications and says the process can take up to 42 days, although responses are often quicker.
Site registration, technical limits, interference management and Ofcom's power to require changes or shutdown should remain.
One 50 m areaCellCell
Next community host
another fee
another fee
Outdoor coordination is already possible for temporary use. Ofcom has a separate product for indoor or outdoor use of 2320 to 2340 MHz, but only for up to 14 days. A pop-up licence is not a foundation for lasting rural or community service. We want a coordinated, long-term outdoor route.
Barrier two: Local Access
£950 buys permission, not a future.
A fragile route
Unused national spectrum can be shared, but only on uncertain terms.
A Local Access licence can authorise spectrum already licensed nationally to an established operator where it is not being used. The licence costs £950 and normally lasts three years.
It cannot be renewed. The local operator must make a new application, and Ofcom says there is no guarantee another licence can be granted if the incumbent's circumstances have changed. If replacement access is not granted, transmission must stop.
Read the exact Ofcom positionWhat communities are asked to risk
Build the site. Win trust. Then face a cliff edge.
- One-off licence fee
- £950
- Default term
- 3 years
- Renewal
- Not available
- Continued access
- Not guaranteed
A national operator cannot simply cancel an active licence at will. The danger comes at the next application. A change in the incumbent's plans can block continued access, strand local investment and end service in that area. Communities cannot build lasting infrastructure on that uncertainty.
Who reform would help
This is about giving people another way to connect.
Connectivity affects whether people can work, learn, run a local business and participate fully in modern life. A public resource should not be structured so that only national-scale operators can turn it into dependable service.
A suitable outdoor cell could add targeted coverage or capacity around a village, farm, community building or small-business cluster where local people can provide a host, power and backhaul.
See Ofcom's coverage reportLodestar wants to build a mobile network community by community, with local hosts helping to put equipment where people actually need it. Regulation should allow that model to grow safely.
See the Lodestar Mobile modelLower recurring regulatory costs and a usable outdoor footprint could make more sites viable and help Lodestar offer lower-cost local service. This is an opportunity, not a guaranteed saving or coverage promise.
Read the campaign boundariesThe rural gap is real. Ofcom's January 2026 operator-model data predicted indoor 4G from all four reported network footprints at 95.35% of urban premises but 63.66% of rural premises. It reported 101,923 rural premises with no predicted indoor 4G from any footprint. These are national predictions, not proof that one proposed cell will solve a particular not-spot.
Our demands
Change the rules, not the ambition.
We ask Ofcom and DSIT to make spectrum access affordable, usable outdoors and durable enough for community networks to invest. That means substantially lower 2.3 GHz Shared Access fees, a coordinated long-term outdoor route in the existing Shared Access slices, and a Local Access model that does not place communities at a three-year cliff edge.
- 1Cut recurring licence fees
Publish the present-day cost of coordination and annual administration. Substantially reduce the £80 and £160 per-area charges for low-power community cells, separate one-off work from renewal, and permit accountable portfolio registration.
- 2Make outdoor access permanent
Create a coordinated long-term route for low-power outdoor use of 2320 to 2340 MHz and, once coexistence work supports it, 2390 to 2400 MHz. Keep site assessment, power, antenna, exclusion, interference and change-or-cease conditions.
- 3End the Local Access cliff edge
Reduce the £950 fee, provide longer or repeatable authorisations while spectrum remains unused, require transparent evidence for incumbent objections, and give local operators and customers a workable notice and transition path.
If Ofcom needs field evidence, run it now. Authorise a 12-month pilot of up to 100 coordinated outdoor community cells, waive or reimburse the licence fees, and publish the cost, coverage, capacity and interference outcomes. A pilot must be a path to permanent reform, not a substitute for it.
Cut the fees. Open a route outdoors. Make local networks last.
Our response to Ofcom
A trial should be the start of a network, not the end of one.
Lodestar has submitted a full response to Ofcom's call for input on the future of spectrum licensing. We answered all 11 questions with one clear message: innovation policy must lead to affordable, dependable services for real communities.
Making short trials easier is not enough. New operators need a workable route from testing technology to running a service, without paying repeated full fees or rebuilding the same technical case at every site.
Create a coordinated, long-term outdoor route for 2320 to 2340 MHz, then a controlled pathway for 2390 to 2400 MHz once the required safeguards have been validated.
Replace repeated full per-site charges with a common project assessment, low marginal site fees and an overall cap for qualifying community or public-benefit networks.
Allow commercial trials with paying customers, reuse completed technical work and provide a bridging route into operational authorisation.
Provide at least five years of assured access for fixed infrastructure, with longer or rolling terms and clear notice where an operational network is involved.
Submitted to Ofcom in September 2026. The public web edition contains Lodestar Networks Ltd's complete non-confidential policy answers. The personal contact details requested on Ofcom's administrative cover sheet are not published.
Clear boundaries
Radical change can still be responsible.
- Not unlicensed, uncoordinated or unrestricted outdoor transmission.
- Not access to the whole of LTE Band 40. The Shared Access ask concerns only 2320 to 2340 MHz and 2390 to 2400 MHz.
- Not automatic approval for every site or an automatic right to medium-power operation.
- Not removal of site records, technical limits, incumbent protection or interference enforcement.
- Not a claim that national operators received spectrum for free or operate without regulation.
- Not a special right for Lodestar. A fair route should be open to qualifying community and local operators.
- Not a replacement for national networks or emergency-call coverage, and not a guarantee of coverage or customer savings.
Stand with community networks
Read it. Check it. Make the case.
This page has no campaign submission form and does not collect signatures. Share the proposal with people who can change the rules, and explain what affordable, durable local connectivity could mean for your community.
Before Ofcom's deadline, anyone with relevant experience can respond directly to Ofcom. Lodestar does not receive, pre-send or mass-submit those responses.
Check every sourceBefore 5pm on 30 September
Send your own response to Ofcom.
Personal evidence matters more than identical messages. Ofcom's wider spectrum-innovation call is not specifically a Shared Access fee, outdoor-use or Local Access consultation.
Open a response template
Suggested subject: Spectrum innovation: durable access for community mobile networks
I am responding to Ofcom's call for input on spectrum innovation. I ask Ofcom to include the barriers facing community mobile networks in the work leading to its early-2027 proposals.
I support a substantial reduction in the recurring fees for low-power 2.3 GHz Shared Access areas and a licensed, coordinated long-term route for outdoor use of the 2320 to 2340 MHz and 2390 to 2400 MHz Shared Access slices. My local use case is: [brief description]. The current fee or indoor-only rule affects it in this way: [specific evidence].
I also ask Ofcom to review the £950 Local Access fee and its continuity model. A default three-year licence that cannot be renewed, with no guarantee that a new licence will be granted, is too fragile for lasting community infrastructure.
I support a 100-site outdoor pilot if further evidence is required. It should retain site coordination, technical limits, interference obligations and Ofcom control, publish the results, and lead promptly to permanent reform.
Personalise the text and add your own evidence. Lodestar will not send it for you.
Download Ofcom's response form Email innovationreview@ofcom.org.ukQuestions
The important details.
Are you asking for unlicensed spectrum?
No. Outdoor community cells should remain licensed or registered, technically coordinated and subject to appropriate power, antenna, siting and interference conditions. Ofcom must retain the power to require a change or shutdown.
Is outdoor 2.3 GHz Shared Access permitted now?
Not under Ofcom's standard ongoing Shared Access product. A separate product permits temporary indoor or outdoor use of 2320 to 2340 MHz for up to 14 days. The campaign asks for a coordinated long-term route. No outdoor transmission should take place without an Ofcom authorisation covering that site and use.
Can an MNO cancel a Local Access licence whenever it wants?
No. An active licence is not simply terminable at an MNO's whim. The serious risk comes at the end of its term: the licence cannot be renewed, a new application is required, and continued access is not guaranteed if the incumbent's circumstances or plans have changed.
Why compare community networks with national operators?
National operators have paid for spectrum and comply with licence conditions. The structural difference is that their rights cover broad areas and support long-term planning. Community operators must assemble limited local permissions, pay repeated local charges and, under Local Access, face uncertain continuity.
Is the Shared Access fee charged per femtocell?
No. It is charged per licensed low-power area. One area has a 50 m radius and permits as many base stations as required inside it. A distributed host network normally needs a separate area for each geographically separated site.
Does Ofcom incur real coordination costs?
Yes. Ofcom describes Shared Access fees as cost recovery and technically coordinates applications. The campaign asks it to publish the present-day cost split and make repeated fees proportionate to automated, low-power community deployment.
Will this solve rural mobile coverage?
Not by itself. Outdoor community cells could improve coverage or capacity around suitable sites, but every deployment still needs spectrum availability and coordination, consent, planning where applicable, power, backhaul, equipment and compatible devices. Lower regulatory costs could make more sites viable, but coverage and savings cannot be guaranteed.
Does Lodestar replace a national network or carry emergency calls?
No. Lodestar does not itself carry 999 or 112 calls. In Lodestar's testing, every handset that passed its VoLTE tests left Lodestar and used another available UK mobile network when 999 or 112 was dialled. This still depends on a compatible handset and another network being available, so users need another working way to contact emergency services.
Campaign disclosure
Run by Lodestar Networks Ltd.
Free the Spectrum is a Lodestar Networks Ltd campaign. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Ofcom. Publication and facts last checked 8 September 2026.