Ofcom has revealed the final outcome of its spectrum auction to release more airwaves for 4G mobile and future 5G services – mobilizing £1,369,879,000 for the UK government.
Last week, Ofcom named telecom companies that had won the right to use spectrum during the auction, and the amounts they would pay.
Ofcom has allocated the spectrum frequencies 3540 – 3580 MHz to EE / BT, paying an additional £1,002,000 from the assignment stage.
Ofcom has allocated the spectrum frequencies 3460 – 3480 MHz to Hutchison 3G UK, paying an additional £13,133,000 from the assignment stage.
Ofcom has allocated the spectrum frequencies 2350 – 2390 MHz to Telefonica UK. As the only company to secure spectrum in this band, there are no additional fees to pay. The company has also been allocated the spectrum frequencies 3500 – 3540 MHz.
Ofcom has allocated the spectrum frequencies 3410 – 3460 MHz to Vodafone.
There were no assignment stage bids for the 3.4 GHz frequencies awarded to Telefonica UK and Vodafone, and they are therefore not required to pay additional fees from the assignment stage. Ofcom said the total amount paid as a result of the assignment stage is £14,135,000 for the spectrum auction.
The completion of the 4G and 5G spectrum auction is a good development for telecom network vendors such as Cisco, HPE, IBM, Juniper Networks, Oracle, Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei, ZTE, among others.
