UK communications regulator Ofcom on Friday announced it has scheduled 4G spectrum auction in late 2015 or early 2016.
The regulator said it will sell off 40MHz of spectrum in the 2.3GHz band and 150MHz of spectrum in the 3.4 GHz band, which are currently being used for providing “very high data capacity”.
Current smartphones including the iPhone 6, HTC Desire and Samsung Galaxy handsets, already make use of 2.3GHz spectrum for offering high-speed 4G mobile broadband in countries like India, China and Australia, while the 3.4GHz spectrum is used for providing wireless broadband in UK, Canada, Spain and other countries.
“Today marks an important step in ensuring that the UK has sufficient spectrum to support our wireless economy,” says Philip Marnick, Ofcom Spectrum Group Director.
“It comes in response to the fast pace of change and innovation taking place in the communications sector, which is placing increased demands on how spectrum is used by all industries. One important way of meeting this demand is making new spectrum available and its use as flexible as possible.”
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Ofcom said that it expects to raise between £2.5 million to £5 million per lot for the 2.3GHz spectrum, and £1 million for the 3.4GHz spectrum, with total proposed reserve prices expected to be between £50 million and £70 million.
Furthermore, the communications regulator said it has limited the amount of signal band for any one operator to 37 percent in a bid to promote fair competition.
The announcement comes days after there were reports of declining 4G speeds in the UK owing to a range of issues – primary among them being alleged network congestion because of surge in 4G subscriber numbers.
