UK mobile operator Everything Everywhere (EE) has dropped its legal challenge against the UK government over spectrum legislation – potentially paving the way for the country to hold mobile broadband spectrum auctions in 2012 as planned. “We have decided to withdraw our threatened legal action and are content to take our chances when it comes to influencing the rules for future spectrum auctions,” the operator told the Financial Times. EE’s move could bring to an end almost three years of squabbling among UK operators over spectrum that has threatened to derail the government’s plan to award new spectrum suitable for next-generation mobile technologies such as LTE. EE – the operator formed by the merger of Orange UK and T-Mobile UK – had objected to proposed legislation that did not include a cap on the amount of low frequency airwaves that a single operator could own. Unlike EE, rivals O2 and Vodafone both already own spectrum at 900MHz, which they are trying to refarm for new mobile services.

The latest development was welcomed by the UK government, which is trying to push through new legislation to beef-up the country’s broadband infrastructure. “I am delighted [EE CEO] Tom Alexander took a pragmatic view and saw the bigger picture. We are now in a very good place to move forward,” Communications Minister Ed Vaizey (pictured) told the Financial Times. The legislation instructs Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, to hold an auction of low frequency spectrum at 800MHz in early 2012. EE is expected to press for Ofcom to draw up auction rules that place a cap on the amount of low frequency spectrum that one operator can own. Last month, the government earmarked £830 million to be taken from the BBC licence fee over the next seven years to help fund construction of a new super-fast broadband network.