Ofcom awards 5G spectrum to Vodafone, O2 and EE, raising PS39 million
The UK telecommunications regulator on Thursday said it raised £39 million for the government from an auction of spectrum for 5G mobile phone services.
Vodafone Group PLC, Virgin Media 02 and EE each will pay £13 million for a total of 5.4 gigahertz of spectrum in the ’mmWave’, which has short wavelengths of about 10 millimetres and is split between two bands.
Each of the three network operators acquired rights to 800 megahertz of spectrum in the 26 gigahertz band and 1 gigahertz in the 40 gigahertz band, the Office of Communications said.
Virgin Media O2 is a 50-50 joint venture between the US’s Liberty Global Ltd and Spain’s Telefonica SA, while the EE mobile network in the UK is owned by BT Group PLC.
Ofcom said the new short wavelength spectrum is ideal for improving capacity at crowded locations such as football stadiums, concert venues, and transport hubs.
Vodafone shares were up 0.3% to 85.68 pence early Thursday in London. BT was down 0.9% to 183.25p. Telefonica was down 1.2% to €4.43 in Madrid. Liberty Global closed up 1.1% to $11.07 in New York on Wednesday.
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