Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know

Mobile network operator Three has agreed to acquire UK Broadband in a deal worth £250 million.

UK Broadband would operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Three's UK business if the transaction, expected to be completed in the middle of this year, is confirmed, Three said.

"UK Broadband gives us an opportunity to expand our ambition to provide high quality and great value internet connectivity for UK consumers," said Three UK chief executive Dave Dyson.

According to its website, UK Broadband is "the UK's largest commercial holder of national radio spectrum suitable for 4G mobile services and fixed wireless solutions". It owns spectrum in the 3 GHz, 3.6 GHz, 3.9 GHz, 28 GHz and 40 GHz frequency bands.

UK telecoms regulator Ofcom consulted last year on plans to make the 3.6 GHz to 3.8 GHz band available for 5G mobile services in future. Ofcom is expected to oversee an auctioning off of spectrum in the 2.3 GHz and 3.4 GHz frequency bands later this year. In November 2016 it consulted on plans to cap the amount of spectrum any one mobile network operator would be able to hold in a move which would bar BT/EE from bidding for the new spectrum being made available in the 2.3 GHz band. That consultation closed on 30 January.

Hutchison Whampoa, the Hong Kong-based owner of Three, was refused permission to buy O2 UK from Spain's Telefónica last year by the European Commission. That proposed £10.25 billion deal was blocked on competition grounds.

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