Britain auctions mobile spectrum for 1.36 billion pounds

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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A man wearing a mask walks past a 5G advert

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LONDON (Reuters) – Britain said on Wednesday it had auctioned a new tranche of airwaves to support 5G mobile for a total 1.36 billion pounds ($1.89 billion), with all four major networks wining new spectrum to improve their networks.

EE, owned by BT, won 2×10 MHz of paired frequency spectrum in 700 MHz band for 280 million pounds, 20 MHz of supplementary downlink spectrum in 700 MHz band for 4 million pounds and 40 MHz in 3.6-3.8 GHz band for 168 million pounds.

Hutchison 3G UK won 2×10 MHz of paired frequency spectrum in 700 MHz for 280 million pounds, regulator Ofcom said, while Vodafone (LON:VOD) secured 40 MHz in 3.6-3.8 GHz for 176.4 million pounds.

Telefonica (MC:TEF) UK, which trades as O2, won 2×10 MHz of paired frequency spectrum in 700 MHz band for 280 million pounds and 40 MHz in 3.6-3.8 GHz band for 168 million pounds, it said.