Britain to release more mobile airwaves in 2020 auction

LONDON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Britain is planning to release
more mobile airwaves through an auction in spring 2020, aiming
to improve mobile services and enable more people and businesses
to access next generation 5G networks, regulator Ofcom said on
Monday.

Ofcom manages Britain's airwaves, or spectrum, a finite
resource that is essential for wireless services including
mobile phones.

The regulator said the auction would involve companies
bidding for spectrum in two different frequency bands - 80 MHz
of spectrum in the 700 MHz band and 120 MHz of spectrum in the
3.6-3.8 GHz band.

The latter band forms part of the primary band for 5G.

All four of Britain's biggest mobile companies - EE,
Vodafone, O2 and Three - have
launched 5G this year, and releasing these airwaves will help
increase the capacity and quality of mobile data services, Ofcom
said.

On Friday, the four mobile network operators said they had
agreed to build a shared rural network, backed by government
funds, banishing countryside "not-spots" where consumers are
unable to get an adequate signal.

In light of this deal, Ofcom is no longer proposing to
include coverage obligations in its auction. This is because,
through the companies working together, the agreement will
achieve higher coverage than the requirements the regulator
could have set through an auction.

Ofcom's auction will involve two stages. In the "principal
stage" companies will first bid for airwaves in separate "lots"
to determine how much spectrum each company wins.

Then there will be a round of bidding - the "assignment
stage" - to determine the specific frequencies that winning
bidders will be allocated.

Winners of 3.6-3.8 GHz spectrum will have an opportunity in
the second stage to negotiate their placements within the band
among themselves, allowing operators to join together the new
spectrum they win with their existing holdings.

Ofcom is still proposing to place a 37% cap on the overall
spectrum that any one mobile company can hold following the
auction.

The regulator has asked for responses to its proposals by
Dec. 9. It plans to publish its final decisions early next year,
before starting the auction in the spring.
(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Mark Potter)