Ofcom has committed the UK’s four mobile operators to pledges they made last December to improve mobile coverage across the UK.
The UK regulator said it has varied the licences of the UK’s four mobile operators following an agreement reached between the government and EE, 3UK, O2 UK and Vodafone UK to provide voice coverage across 90% of the UK’s landmass by the end of 2017.
As well as the coverage requirement, the operators also have to meet signal strength thresholds that will be monitored by Ofcom in future.
In the December agreement, EE, O2, Vodafone and 3UK have agreed to guarantee voice and SMS coverage to 90% of the U.K.’s geographic area, thereby halving the number of partial not-spots and reducing complete “not-spots” by two thirds. Th e companies plan to jointly spend £5 billion to eliminate these not-spots by 2017.
By accepting these new coverage obligations, EE, O2, Vodafone and 3 have also avoided the possibility of being forced to establish national roaming agreements with one another, an idea proposed by the government in November that was unpopular with the operators.
Ofccom also noted that in light of these variations to the licences, it would shortly consult further on the annual licence fees for the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz spectrum bands.
The UK government directed Ofcom in 2010 to revise these fees to reflect full market value after the completion of the 4G auction. The two bands are used for 2G and 3G, including voice calls, and some 4G services.
Today, operators pay a combined £24.8 million per year for 900-MHz spectrum and £39.7 million per year for 1800-MHz spectrum. In August, Ofcom proposed increasing annual fees for 900-MHz and 1800-MHz to £109.3 million and £137.5 million respectively, giving a total of £246.8 million.
While this is still a considerable increase, it is 20% lower than Ofcom’s previous proposal: In October 2013 the watchdog suggested hiking the fees to £138.5 million for 900-MHz and £170.4 million for 1800-MHz.
