Ofcom has changed the licences of the UK’s ‘big four’ mobile network operators to improve mobile coverage. EE, O2, Three and Vodafone have all agreed to accept this change.
It follows what the UK government called a ‘landmark deal’ last year, at the conclusion of a three-week consultation that had considered ‘national roaming’.
The new licence terms commit the mobile operators to providing voice coverage across 90% of the UK’s landmass by the end of 2017. Previous coverage commitments have been based on population coverage, not geographic coverage.
Ofcom says it’ll now be consulting on the 900MHz and 1800MHz licence fees “in light of these variations”. In 2010, the government said it had wanted these fees revised “to reflect full market value”, which suggested a significant increase.
[Ofcom Voice Coverage Obligation Notice of Compliance Methodology (pdf)]