UK raises £1.36bn in 5G spectrum auction

The UK government on Wednesday said it had auctioned a new tranche of 5G mobile network spectrum for £1.36bn.

EE, owned by BT, paid a total of £452m after it won 2x10 MHz of paired frequency spectrum in 700 MHz band for £280m, 20 MHz of supplementary downlink spectrum in 700 MHz band for £4m and 40 MHz in 3.6-3.8 GHz band for £168m.

Hutchison 3G UK spent £280m bidding for 2x10 MHz of paired frequency spectrum in 700 MHz.

Vodafone secured 40 MHz in 3.6-3.8 GHz for £176.4 m in the auction run by regulator Ofcom, while Telefonica UK, which trades as O2, won 2x10 MHz of paired frequency spectrum in 700 MHz band for a £280m and 40 MHz in 3.6-3.8 GHz band for £168m.

The auction will now move to the “assignment” stage, Ofcom said where companies can bid for the frequency positions they prefer for the airwaves they have secured in the principal stage.

“After submitting their assignment stage bids in the 3.6-3.8 GHz band, bidders will then have the opportunity to negotiate the frequency positions among themselves – if they want to join together the airwaves they have secured with spectrum they already hold in the wider 3.4-3.8 GHz band,” it added.