Ofcom Will Tomorrow Kick Off the UK 5G Mobile Auction for 26GHz and 40GHz

The telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today confirmed that the first bidding on their auction of the 26GHz and 40GHz millimetre wave (mmW) spectrum bands for use by 5G mobile (mobile broadband) operators will get underway tomorrow, with BT (EE), O2 (Telefonica UK / Virgin Media) and Vodafone (VodafoneThree) all taking part.

The major mobile network providers already have access to several 5G capable bands between 700MHz and 3.8GHz. Such frequencies reflect the same sort of low and mid-band radio spectrum that mobile network operators have been using since the advent of the first 3G and 4G data networks.

The move to auction off 26GHz (25.1-27.5GHz) and 40GHz (40.5-43.5GHz) will complement the existing bands by providing lots of additional spectrum frequency, which means more data capacity for extremely fast speeds (e.g. multi-Gigabit). But such signals tend to be very weak and can’t cover a wider area without a much denser / more expensive network, which in practice means they’ll primarily be used for serving busy urban areas (shopping malls, airports etc. – “High Density Areas“) and fixed wireless broadband (FWA) links.

The plan is to make this spectrum available in a clock auction (200MHz lots) with 15-year licences across 68 “high-density” areas (i.e. cities and select transport hubs). Bidding for this will take place in two separate stages, which we’ve summarised below. Ofcom’s reserve prices for this spectrum appears to be modest when compared with other European auctions (£2m per 26GHz lot and £1m per 40GHz lot).

The 5G mmW Auction Stages

Principal stage

Companies first bid for airwaves in ‘lots’ to determine how much spectrum each company wins in each band, but not the specific frequencies within each band. Bidding will continue for as long as there is excess demand for the spectrum available. We will announce the results of the principal stage shortly after it has concluded. Once the principal stage is underway, we will publish daily updates on our website.

Assignment stage

There is then a stage of bidding to determine the specific frequencies that winning bidders will be allocated. We will publish the final results of the auction once all stages are complete.

The 26GHz band is already used elsewhere for mmW services and so will be easier for networks operators to adopt and support, although the story is a bit different for the 40GHz band because the UK will be one of the first countries in Europe to award it. The latter may thus take a bit longer to find its feet through deployment and adoption.