Annual licence fees for mobile operators

Ofcom has today set the annual licence fees that mobile operators will pay for 900 and 1800 MHZ spectrum, from 31 January 2019.

The operators use these spectrum bands to provide mobile voice and data services, using a mix of 2G, 3G and 4G technologies.

In June, Ofcom published a consultation on the proposed licence fees that should apply for these spectrum bands. Following consideration of the responses, they have concluded that the appropriate ALFs for these bands (expressed in April 2018 prices) are:

  • 1.093m per MHz of 900 MHz spectrum; and
  • £0.805m per MHz of 1800 MHz spectrum

Ofcom are also consulting on the level of annual licence fees that should apply for the 40 MHz of spectrum in the 3.4 GHz band, and 80 MHz in the 3.6 GHz band, that are licensed to UK Broadband, which is owned by Hutchison 3G UK Limited.

Ofcom have proposed that the fees for both 3.4 GHz and 3.6 GHz spectrum would be £0.358m per MHz.  The consultation runs until 11 February 2019.