AfterDawn: Tech news

UK spectrum price hike talk stuns mobile operators

Written by James Delahunty @ 10 Oct 2013 9:53

UK spectrum price hike talk stuns mobile operators Mobile operators in Britain have been stunned by proposed increases in the license fees they must pay to use spectrum in the country.
If they were to go through, Britain's major mobile service providers could see their license fees rise more than 400 percent. Vodafone, for example, would see its fee rise from £15.6 million, to £83.1 million, while EE would jump from £24.9 million to £107.1 million. Three would see its rates rise from £8.3 million to £35.7 million.

Ofcom justifies the proposal based on the rates paid by operators in equivalent European markets, arguing that by comparison the rates in the UK are very low.

But operators told the BBC that the hike was excessive, with Vodafone saying it was disappointed. Others fear that the cost increase may pass on to consumers.

"The size of these figures may come as bad news to the mobile networks, but more worryingly could sound alarm bells for consumers," said Adam Kirby, telecoms expert at uSwitch.com.



"The proposed new costs reflect a huge leap in the amount networks will have to pay the regulator for using the spectrum - our concern is that it will be consumers who are left to foot the bill."

JP Morgan appeared to play down the possibility however, saying in an advisory note that competitiveness in the mobile market would stop the cost from passing down.

Tags: UK Ofcom
Previous Next  
Comments have been disabled for this article.

Latest news

Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets (06 Jun 2023 9:19)
Roomba Combo j7+ is the very first Roomba model to combine robot vacuum with mopping features. And Roomba Combo j7+ does all that with a very clever trick, which tackles the problem with mopping and carpets. But is it any good? We found out.
Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations (02 May 2023 3:38)
Neato Robotics has ceased its operations. American robot vacuum pioneer founded in 2005 has finally called it quits and company will cease its operations and sales. Only a skeleton crew will remain who will keep the servers running until 2028.
5 user comments
How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp (20 Mar 2023 1:25)
The world's most popular messaging platform, Meta-owned WhatsApp has enabled sending messages to yourself. While at first, this might seem like an odd feature, it can be very useful in a lot of situations. ....
18 user comments
How to Enable Bluetooth on Stadia Controller How to Enable Bluetooth on Stadia Controller (11 Feb 2023 1:04)
Google shut down its streaming game service Stadia late last month and this means that some people have Stadia controllers lying around that seem to be of no use. That is fortunately not the ....
2 user comments
Guide: How to Kick Unwanted Guests from Your Netflix Account Guide: How to Kick Unwanted Guests from Your Netflix Account (26 Jan 2023 2:14)
Sharing a Netflix account with a person in a different location is possible and indeed very common, although the company doesn't necessarily enjoy this behavior from their customers. However, ....

News archive