Ofcom To Hold UK Auction For mmWave Spectrum Next Year

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Britain's mobile telcos will get to bid for mmWave spectrum to provide high-speed wirelessservices next year, according to Ofcom, which just published the final draft of the regulations governing the auction.

The UK telecoms regulator says it plans to release spectrum in the 25.1-27.5 GHz and 40.5-43.5 GHz bands in 2025, and make them available for operators to deliver faster services. These are set to be restricted to urban areas, since these high frequencies can typically only operate over a range of a few kilometers.

This will be a big shift for the country's telcos, which have until now only had access to frequencies below about 4 GHz to deliver a mobile service. Higher frequencies allow for higher transmission rates and lower latencies, and for this reason are already used in countries such as the US for 5G data services.

The spectrum planned for release amounts to 2.4 GHz of spectrum in the 26 GHz band, and another 3 GHz in the 40 GHz band. Because of the range factor, this will not replace the existing spectrum UK operators already use, but compliment it for higher-bandwidth services in high-density areas.

Ofcom published a notice of its plans back in May and invited views on the proposals. It says in its latest missive that having considered the responses, it decided to enact the regulations largely in the form it consulted on, but with some tweaks.

The proposals were to auction the available spectrum in three categories, with each lot comprising a block of 200 MHz. The categories consist of 26 GHz lower (25.1-26.5 GHz), 26 GHz upper (26.5-27.5 GHz), and 40 GHz (40.5-43.5 GHz).

That split of the 26 GHz band into two categories is because some incumbent users continue to operate in the 25.1-26.5 GHz part of the band, Ofcom says.

Reserve prices are expected to be 2 million ($2.55 million) for each lot of the 26 GHz band, and 1 million ($1.27 million) for each lot in the 40 GHz space.

However, the comms regulator has previously said the auction cannot proceed until the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has reached a decision on the proposed merger between Three and Vodafone, which might otherwise complicate matters.

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