O2 Confirms UK Mobile Boost as 78.8MHz of Spectrum Acquired from Vodafone
Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) has today revealed the details of their spectrum transfer agreement with Vodafone UK (VodafoneThree), which follows last year’s network sharing deal. This will see VMO2 acquiring 78.8MHz of spectrum for an investment of £343m to “materially enhance” their 4G and 5G mobile (mobile broadband) network.
In case anybody has forgotten, VMO2 and Vodafone signed a key 10-year network sharing agreement back in July 2024 (here), which was necessary in order to correct for some competitive conflicts that might have been created by Vodafone’s recently completed merger with Three UK (i.e. Three had a network sharing agreement with EE, while Vodafone had one with O2).
The deal also stipulated that – upon completion of Vodafone’s merger with Three UK – VMO2 would later acquire spectrum from the newly created VodafoneThree, thus establishing three scaled mobile network operators each with better alignment of their respective spectrum holdings. But the exact details and value of that spectrum deal has, until now, remained unclear.
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The spectrum will be partially funded by the minority stake sale in Cornerstone in 2024, with spectrum payments extending beyond 2025 and “deployment occurring over the medium term, starting this year“.
Spectrum Being Acquired by VMO2 from Vodafone UK
• 20MHz of 1400MHz Supplemental Downlink
• 18.8MHz of 2100MHz Frequency Division Duplex
• 20MHz of 2600MHz Time Division Duplex
• 20MHz of 3400MHz Time Division Duplex
Lutz Schüler, CEO of VMO2, said:
“This acquisition of spectrum will not only create greater balance in holdings across the UK’s mobile networks, but for Virgin Media O2 it will allow us to boost coverage and further improve our network quality, building on the significant investment we are already making in our mobile network. We’re committed to giving our customers a reliable mobile experience across the country and this increase in spectrum will help us deliver on that.”
The news bodes well for O2, which in many independent studies has tended to show somewhat of a performance detriment (particularly with respect to data speeds) when compared with Vodafone, Three UK and EE – this is despite the operator now having much greater access to Virgin Media’s national fixed line network.
The extra spectrum should help to boost their network performance and perhaps also improve signal coverage in some locations, which will no doubt be welcomed by the operator’s customers and MVNO partners. But we would have liked a bit more detail on the exact timescale for each band to be deployed (we’ve asked VMO2 and will report back if they provide more info.).
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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I’m interested in knowing what this means for site / infrastructure sharing between three & EE, also Vodafone & Virgin Media O2.
O2 really need to make improvements, I know people on O2 and they just aren’t happy with the data performance [and coverage] here around south Wales.
Same. I hope we start seeing more shared sites between all operators.
There are areas where MBNL is better than Cornerstone and vice versa. I’d imagine O2/EE will probably be left out while VF/3 get access to both grids…
Data has always been inferior with O2 in Leicestershire compared to.all the other networks, to. Giffgaff seems harshly traffic shaped their [Leicestershire] too as it seems o2 might not have enough capacity in this county at all….
I csnt edit my previous comment.
Just to clarify im not here to try and devalue any company but if they dont hear it thye will never know and im sure someone from all networks watch this site, I have for over 10 years and hardly spoken.
O2 and Vidafine have the best reception in this county by far but their MVNOs are harshly traffic shaped, its a shame both their dogs are so slow that EE has faster 4G than most 4G and 5G ]except Three, of course]
Good news.
Hope 02 will improve their speed and coverage. 02 is the last network still using 3G most places.
People will not agree with me. 3 operators is much better than 4.
All three operators have enough spectrum to improve coverage & reliability.
Germany and Switzerland only have 3 main operators with good speed and reliability and holding enough spectrum.
I am not sure Vodafone/Three still have band 77 where they have 84MHZ.
O2 aren’t the only network still using 3G, 3 are still using 3G in many areas
Anuraj, O2 already had enough spectrum to be good in most places, they simply decide not to deploy it. Going from 4 to 3 networks or having more spectrum won’t change their DNA or their strategy to avoid (and I’ll quote their blog) “vanity speeds”.
VANITY METRICS
Please don’t tell me you’re that naïve Anuraj…
They’re rubbish because they don’t invest in their network and leave it mostly on B8/B20 only even in fairly busy areas as a lot of their customer base is skewed toward the older and less technical.
More spectrum that they don’t deploy and do use their cable backhaul to improve will mean nothing.
If anyone is after some extremely detailed charts, there’s some very good info here which is up to date with all the latest spectrum swaps:
https://mastdatabase.co.uk/gb/spectrum/
O2/Tesco in Aberdeen are brilliant now, I just done a speed check and getting 495mbps, no complaints anywhere in Scotland really.
Some family are on Tesco (O2) in Scotland and with the exception of a few select masts – their data generally runs like it’s still on Edge and there is lots of 2G/3G only coverage too.
You must be on a different network.
Unless O2 is required to deploy it, it’s a waste of spectrum. Just look at what happens now where O2 is slow but refuse to deploy the spectrum they already own…
The only places I ever see good signal on o2 are when their 3G or 4G fail and the phone falls back to Edge. To me, the old status quo of O2 and Vodafone having the best call coverage but never great for data.
I have moved from O2 as the coverage just isn’t good
VM02 has announced forthcoming dates for the shutdown in specific towns:
https://www.telecoms.com/5g-6g/vmo2-3g-shutdown-gets-underway-for-real-this-month
I didn’t cover that because it’s a re-hash of old news from April 2025. VMO2 just sent it out as a reminder, but seemingly some news sites reported it as a fresh development, which it is not.
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2025/04/o2-expand-uk-3g-mobile-switch-off-to-norwich-telford-guildford-and-torquay.html
You can hear ’em singing it in the boardroom ” My name is Tricky Dicky, I come from Billericay and I’m doing very, very very . . . well !”
Even happier days for GG ?