BT and Vodafone stump up millions more for spectrum licences

Communications regulator Ofcom has allocated spectrum from the recent 4G auction, with Vodafone and BT having to pay millions more than had initially been stated.

The two companies were among five winners of spectrum in either, or both of the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands, along with EE, O2 and Three.

The winning bidders were given an option to top up their bids in order to secure preferred locations in the frequency bands.

BT's subsidiary Niche Spectrum Ventures added £15m to the £186m it had already bid for spectrum, bringing its total spend to £201m.

It paid to be allocated the spectrum bands 2,520 to 2,535 MHz and 2,640 to 2,655 MHz.

Vodafone added £8m to be allocated the spectrum bands 801 to 811 MHz and 842 to 852 MHz and £4m to be allocated the spectrum bands 2,500 to 2,520 MHz and 2,620 to 2,640 MHz, bringing its total spend on the auction to £802.8m.

EE and Three were not required to pay any further amounts at the assignment stage. O2 was not involved in the assignment stage at all, because the spectrum lot it won in the principal stage carried an obligation to provide a mobile broadband service for indoor reception to at least 98 per cent of the UK population, and the winner of this lot was automatically allocated the spectrum bands 811 to 821 MHz and 852 to 862 MHz.

In total, BT and Vodafone have increased the amount spent on the 4G auction by £27m. The final auction round has increased the money raised by the auction to £2.37bn, still much less than the £3.5bn that the Office for Budget for Responsibility (OBR) had forecast.