The UK regulator said spectrum auction will wait for the implications of the Three-O2 merger
U.K. telecommunications regulator Ofcom decided to postpone its planned spectrum auction for licenses in the 2.3 GHz and 3.4 GHz bands until the European Commission reaches a final decision on the merger of local mobile operators Three and O2.
Ofcom affirmed it’s delaying the spectrum auction process “for reasons of good public administration.” Ofcom also confirmed it had received requests to delay the auction from telecom operators Telefonica and Hutchison, the parent companies of O2 and Three respectively.
“Ofcom will not now commence the auction process until the European Commission has taken its decision as to whether the proposed merger between Telefónica UK and Hutchison 3G UK is compatible with the common market,” Ofcom said.
Ofcom initially planned to launch the spectrum auction process this month, with the aim of awarding the spectrum to the winning operators during the first months of 2016. The regulator had set a reserve price of £70 million ($106 million) for the spectrum, which includes 40 megahertz in the 2.3 GHz band and 150 megahertz in the 3.4 GHz band. The spectrum, which was previously used by the Ministry of Defense, will be used for the provision of mobile broadband services and will also allow winning operators to improve LTE coverage.
The European Commission is currently investigating the competition implications in the local telecoms market of the proposed merger between Three and O2. The European body expects to issue a ruling on this issue by May 2016.
Telenor, NetCom obtain additional spectrum in Norway
In other EMEA news, Norwegian mobile telephony operators Telenor and TeliaSonera, which operate under the NetCom brand, won spectrum in the 1800 MHz band, the Norwegian Communications Authority (Nkom) said in a statement.
The two operators emerged as the winners of the spectrum auction after 83 rounds of bidding. The regulator said it has obtained NOK 877.98 million ($103.3 million) for the spectrum. Telenor secured 20 megahertz in the 1800 MHz band for NOK583.3 million, while NetCom secured 10 megahertz at a cost of NOK292.6 million. Mobile operator Ice Communication Norge also participated in the auction, but failed to obtain spectrum.
The regulator said auction winners will have until Jan. 20 to negotiate the placement of the spectrum. If no written agreement is presented to Nkom within the time limit, the placement of the frequency blocks will be decided by an assignment auction.
