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Lodestar calls on Ofcom to create a lasting spectrum route for community mobile networks.
The company's 11-part response calls for proportionate fees, coordinated outdoor access to shared Band 40 spectrum and a clear path from successful trials to dependable local services.
Coventry, 9 September 2026: Lodestar Networks Ltd has submitted its full response to Ofcom's call for input, Strengthening the UK's radio spectrum regulatory framework for innovation, calling for a practical route from spectrum trials to affordable, durable community mobile services.
Lodestar argues that the current licensing framework makes it difficult for a distributed community network to grow beyond isolated indoor sites or short-lived trials. Ofcom's standard low-power 2.3 GHz Shared Access product costs £80 a year for 10 MHz or £160 a year for 20 MHz in each licensed area. Each area has a radius of 50 metres and the standard product is currently limited to indoor use. One hundred geographically separate 20 MHz areas would therefore cost £16,000 every year before equipment, installation, power, backhaul, core-network operation or customer support.
A separate Local Access licence costs £950 and normally lasts for three years. It cannot be renewed. Continued operation requires a new application, with no guarantee that another licence can be granted if the incumbent spectrum holder's circumstances have changed.
“Community networks do not need a spectrum free-for-all; they need a fair route from proving that a cell works to keeping a useful service running.”
“Ofcom can retain technical coordination, power limits and strong interference protections while making repeated fees proportionate, enabling carefully controlled outdoor use and giving investment enough certainty to last. A successful trial should be the start of a network, not the end of one.”
What Lodestar is asking Ofcom to do
Prioritise Band 40. Create a coordinated, long-term outdoor route for 2320 to 2340 MHz, followed by a controlled pathway for 2390 to 2400 MHz once the necessary coexistence safeguards have been validated.
Make fees scale fairly. Replace repeated full site-by-site charges with one common project assessment, low marginal charges for additional standard sites and an overall fee cap for qualifying community or public-benefit networks.
Let realistic trials become services. Allow commercial trials involving paying customers, reuse completed technical work and provide a bridging route into operational authorisation.
Provide security of tenure. Give fixed infrastructure at least five years of assured access, with longer or rolling terms and clear notice for operational networks.
Gather field evidence. If more evidence is needed, 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.
The proposal is deliberately limited. It does not seek unlicensed or uncoordinated transmission, automatic approval for every site, access to the whole of LTE Band 40 or weaker protection for existing spectrum users. Ofcom would retain the power to set technical conditions and require a site to reduce power, retune or stop transmitting where necessary.
A practical tool for poorly served communities
The potential public benefit is clearest in poorly served communities. Ofcom's January 2026 operator-model data predicted indoor 4G from all four reported mobile network footprints at 63.66% of rural premises, compared with 95.35% of urban premises. It also reported 101,923 rural premises with no predicted indoor 4G from any reported network footprint.
These are national modelled estimates rather than measurements at individual properties. A community cell would be one possible tool, not a complete solution to mobile not-spots.
Lodestar has answered all 11 questions in Ofcom's call for input and published its complete non-confidential policy response online. Ofcom's call for input remains open until 5pm on 30 September 2026.
Notes to editors
Media enquiries
Ofcom call for input
Ofcom published Strengthening the UK's radio spectrum regulatory framework for innovation on 16 July 2026. It is a broad review of spectrum licensing for innovation, not a consultation specifically on Lodestar's Shared Access fee, outdoor-use or Local Access proposals. The call for input closes at 5pm on 30 September 2026.
About Lodestar Networks
Founded in Coventry by Blake Williams, Lodestar Networks Ltd is a UK telecommunications company building local mobile coverage around community-hosted small cells. Its mobile network is operational in small local pockets, while public consumer ordering has not yet opened. Lodestar Networks Ltd is registered in England and Wales under company number 17431367. Registered office: 66 Paul Street, London EC2A 4NA.
Campaign status
Free the Spectrum is a Lodestar Networks Ltd campaign. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Ofcom. The Shared Access proposals concern only 2320 to 2340 MHz and 2390 to 2400 MHz, not the whole of the 2300 to 2400 MHz LTE Band 40 range. The proposed outdoor route does not exist under Ofcom's standard ongoing 2.3 GHz Shared Access product today.