Three/Vodafone in the UK: A pathway to completion
Ofcom's boost for broadband builders
UK General Election 2019: Labour pledges free broadband for all
Three looks to challenge fixed broadband with its 5G service
EE set to launch the UK's first 5G network
Roaming in the EU in the event of a no deal Brexit
The UK government today announced in the event that the UK leaving the EU without a deal, the costs that EU mobile operators would be able to charge UK operators for providing roaming services would no longer be regulated after March 2019. This would mean that surcharge-free roaming could no longer be guaranteed.
Ofcom answers calls for predictability and certainty when it comes to full fibre
Ofcom has outlined a package of proposed measures to support long-term investment in full-fibre networks. They include regulating business and residential markets together, plans for unrestricted access to Openreach’s ducts and poles, different regulatory approaches in different parts of the country and extending the duration of regulation from three to five years or more.
Openreach cuts wholesale broadband prices to boost fibre uptake
The long-awaited Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review
Ofcom completes UK 5G spectrum auction
Ofcom has today announced the outcome of the principal stage of its auction to release airwaves for 4G mobile and future 5G services in the 2.3GHz and 3.4GHz bands. In the auction, Vodafone spent the most of all operators, O2 acquired all of the available spectrum at 2.3GHz and and BT/EE's share of spectrum fell as per the auction rules.
Matthew Howett, Founder & Principal Analyst at Assembly comments:
"Despite Three having made the most noise about the rules of the auction, it was perhaps O2 that had the most to lose, being the operator that probably needed more spectrum the most. The outcome is a particularly good result for them.
Even though the auction raised a fraction of the amount of the 4G auction or even the 3G auction two decades ago, the prices paid are above expectation which shows how valuable these airwaves are to operators, particularly given the emerging hype around 5G.
However an unsatisfactory outcome in this auction was never going to necessarily spell the end to any one operators 5G future given that the technology will ultimately work across a number of spectrum bands, both new ones and ones already held by the mobile operators."
