After starting on 20 March, the principal stage of the auction in the UK for spectrum in the 2.3 and 3.4 GHz bands is now complete. Ofcom said the first stage raised GBP 1.36 billion for the Treasury. Telefonica UK (O2 UK) took the most spectrum, winning all 40 MHz of the 2.3 GHz band available for almost GBP 205.9 million and 40 MHz of 3.4 GHz for GBP 317.72 million. Vodafone received 50 MHz of 3.4 GHz for GBP 378.24 million, EE (of parent BT) won 40 MHz of 3.4 GHz for GBP 302.59 million and Hutchison 3G (3 UK) got 20 MHz of 3.4 GHz for almost GBP 151.3 million. Airspan Spectrum did not acquire spectrum in either band.
Ofcom will now move to the ‘assignment’ stage, the last bidding stage of the auction. Here, companies who won spectrum will bid to see where in the frequency bands their new spectrum will be located. When that stage closes, winners will get their licenses within a few days. The licences run for 20 years and then are convertible to perpetual licences.
