3rd Dec 2015 10:14
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK telecoms regulator Ofcom said Thursday it plans to delay its auction of spectrum in the 2.3 gigahertz and 3.4 gigahertz bands until after the European Commission has decided whether or not to clear the merger between Telefónica UK Limited and Hutchison 3G UK Limited.
Ofcom had originally planned to begin the auction process in December, but since it set out plans to do so the UK's Competition and Markets Authority provisionally cleared BT Group PLC's acquisition of mobile provider EE Ltd.
Additionally, the European Commission has announced plans to undertake an in-depth investigation of the merger of Telefónica's 02 network and Hutchison's Three network. The final decision from the CMA on BT and EE is expected in January of next year, whilst the European Commission's decision on O2 and Three is expected no later than mid-May 2016.
Towards the end of November, Ofcom received letters from Telefónica and Hutchison stating their intention to bring judicial review proceedings against Ofcom's decision to begin the process before the European Commission's decision. After considering these circumstances, Ofcom said it will now hold off the auction process until this decision has been made.
Shares in BT were up 0.5% at 494.45 pence Thursday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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