UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has given Everything Everywhere (EE) permission to use spectrum it already holds to provide LTE services to customers from 11 September 2012.

The decision means the UK number-one operator will have a head-start on rivals Vodafone, O2 and 3 in offering 4G services, as the other operators will have to wait until a spectrum auction takes place at the end of the year.

EE said the decision was “great news for the UK” due to the greater mobile speeds the technology will deliver. “4G will drive investment, employment and innovation and we look forward to making it available later this year, delivering superfast mobile broadband to the UK,” it added.

In contrast, Vodafone said it was “frankly shocked” by Ofcom’s decision, adding that the regulator “has shown a careless disregard for the best interests of consumers, businesses and the wider economy” by not fully taking into account the competitive impact of allowing one operator to provide 4G services before a fully competitive 4G market has been established.

Vodafone added that the balance of the forthcoming 4G auction has been changed by the decision as EE is reportedly in talks to sell some of its spectrum to 3, the UK’s smallest operator, which Ofcom has been seeking to protect with the "over-engineering" of the 4G auction process.
 
Vodafone said it fully supports the 4G auction taking place in December in order to create a competitive 4G market as soon as possible.

Having committed to provide indoor LTE coverage of 98 percent of the UK population two years ahead of Ofcom’s 2017 target through a network sharing deal with Telefonica’s O2, Vodafone said all it needs to achieve this is spectrum: “Ironically, all that stands in our way right now is the regulator.”

O2 and Vodafone announced the new network-sharing deal in June saying it would create a “level playing field” for UK operators ahead of the introduction of 4G networks and services. EE already has a network sharing deal in place for its Orange UK and T-Mobile UK brands.

EE first applied to Ofcom to use its 1800MHz spectrum for 4G services in November 2011. In March Ofcom said it was “minded” to allow EE to go ahead with the plan but noted that the subsequent consultation revealed a number of issues that needed to be considered carefully.

Among the respondents to the consultation were O2 owner Telefonica and Vodafone UK, which both argued that the move would give EE an unfair first-mover advantage.

Telefonica said at the time that allowing EE’s plan to go ahead would create “a monopoly provider of 4G national wholesale services for a period of at least 18 months and very likely substantially longer”, which would be “an extraordinary step” considering Ofcom’s duty to promote competition.