The Daily Telegraph

Three planning appeal over 5G rollout decision

- By Jack Torrance

MOBILE network Three was accused of holding up plans to bolster Britain’s mobile phone airwaves yesterday after it sought an appeal following an unsuccessf­ul legal challenge against Ofcom.

The communicat­ions regulator is about to auction off new spectrum, which would allow the likes of O2, Vodafone, EE and Three to boost network capacity and launch 5G services in the future. Earlier this year it announced plans to cap the maximum share of spectrum that networks can control at 37pc.

The rules were challenged by market leader EE, owned by BT, which said a cap was unfair, and smaller operator Three, which said they did not go far enough. But the High Court has now ruled in Ofcom’s favour.

Three, owned by Hong Kong conglomera­te CK Hutchison, said it was seeking permission to appeal.

A spokesman said: “We are disappoint­ed by the initial ruling of the court as a fairer distributi­on of spectrum is vital for UK consumers and the digital economy. Ofcom does not expect 5G to rollout in the UK until 2019-20 at the earliest, so this will have no impact on the delivery of this new technology.”

An Ofcom spokesman said: “We believe the High Court judgment is clear and Three’s actions may further delay the auction, which is not in the interests of the UK.”

EE owns 42pc of the immediatel­y usable spectrum, Vodafone has 29pc, Three on 15pc and O2 on 14pc.

An EE spokesman said: “While we don’t believe that spectrum caps in this auction are in the best interests of consumers, we’re pleased that the court has reached a decision so quickly.”

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom