Spectrum Snapshot: Vodafone Three to become largest UK spectrum holder

Data from the PolicyTracker Spectrum Database (PSD), which tracks spectrum assignments in over 140 countries, reveals that Vodafone Three will soon become the largest spectrum holder in the UK.

Vodafone and Three have officially completed their merger and will soon combine their spectrum assets, pending approval from the regulator Ofcom.

Simultaneously, Vodafone is waiting for approval to transfer some of its spectrum to O2 as part of an agreement reached ahead of the merger that was meant to alleviate concerns about spectrum dominance.

Assuming Ofcom approves both transfers, Vodafone Three will overtake EE to become the largest spectrum holder in the UK. In total, Vodafone Three will have access to 526 MHz of spectrum, while EE will have 370 MHz and O2 will have 340 MHz.

Vodafone Three will own around 43 per cent of all spectrum assets available in the  UK, while EE will own around 30 per cent and O2 will own approximately 27 per cent. If no transfer had taken place between Vodafone and O2, the merged entity would have been even more dominant. It would have had 610 MHz, or nearly 50 per cent of all assigned spectrum.

Until it reached an agreement with Vodafone, O2 had initially been apprehensive about the merger. Early last year, it told PolicyTracker it was worried that a combined entity of Three and Vodafone would have a major spectrum dominance. The deal to sell 83.8 MHz of spectrum to O2 seems to have alleviated those concerns.

When categorising spectrum bands into low band (sub-1 GHz) and mid band (1–6 GHz), we can see that Vodafone Three has access to 85 MHz of low band spectrum and 441 MHz of mid band spectrum, meaning it has the largest holdings in both low and mid band.

Vodafone Three will likely take advantage of its new spectrum assets as it looks to deliver on the investment commitments it made to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The data in this snapshot was provided by the PolicyTracker Spectrum Database (PSD). This industry-leading database tracks national and regional spectrum assignments in over 140 countries. The PSD is available as part of the Spectrum Research Service as an Excel file or as an interactive web-based platform.