Vodafone UK has reiterated a call for the UK government to scrap the plan to auction 5G licences and instead issue spectrum at the reserve prices to each of the mobile operators. The company said this would help offset the costs of removing Huawei equipment from networks and support investment in the new technology.
Vodafone CEO Nick Jeffery said in interviews with the Financial Times and BBC News that the UK had one of the lowest returns on investment in telecom in the world. With extra money now required to remove the Huawei equipment "now is the time to focus on ensuring operators can still afford to invest in the network this country deserves", he said. "There is little point in operators owning spectrum if we don't have the money to use it."
The 5G auction was scheduled to take place in the UK earlier this year but was delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak. It's not expected to happen before November now.
