Vodafone has managed to evade heavy fines by Ofcom as it has finally succeeded in meeting with its 3G roll-out target.
Ofcom, the telecoms watchdog, singled out Vodafone as the only UK network operator to have failed to live up to its 3G coverage obligations. The regulator revealed that Vodafone managed to provide 3G to only 88.6 percent of the population, while its major competitors O2, EE and Three successfully met the government target of covering 90 percent of the population with 3G signals.
The regulator offered Vodafone an extended December 2013 deadline to reach the 90 percent mark, which it managed to meet.
The regulator said in a statement that “Ofcom takes the requirements of its licensees very seriously, and breaches of these obligations can incur a penalty. In this case, once informed by Ofcom, Vodafone provided a plan to address the shortfall. This involved work to upgrade 129 mobile transmitter sites, which was completed on time.”
“Having taken these factors into account, and the margin by which the target was missed, Ofcom has decided that it will not take any further action on this occasion.”
Vodafone informed that the company is sticking by its plan of 98 percent coverage by 2015 and to achieve that it is investing £900m in 2014 alone.
