UK regulator Ofcom has approved six companies to participate in the upcoming spectrum auction. They are are Vodafone, Telefonica UK (O2), Hutchison 3G UK (3 UK), EE, Connexin and Airspan Spectrum Holdings.
All the qualified applicants now have three days from 27 February to confirm their participation or withdrawal from the process. Ofcom will publish a final list of participating bidders once this period has passed.
Ofcom will make spectrum in two bands available through the auction process, which it expects to start in late-March. It will offer 40 MHz of spectrum in the 2.3 GHz band, and 150 MHz of spectrum in the 3.4 GHz band. Ofcom will impose two restrictions on bidders during the auction - a cap of 255 MHz on 'immediately usable' spectrum that any one operator can hold as a result of the auction, meaning BT/EE cannot bid for 2.3 GHz band spectrum; and a cap of 340 MHz on the overall amount of spectrum a single operator can hold as a result of the auction.
