Two bidders, Orange Personal Communications and Zynetix, were not awarded licences because they were outbid. The licences are technology neutral, which means that the licensees have the freedom to use the spectrum how they wish, within certain technical limits. The licences are for a total of 6.6MHz of spectrum to be used on a low-power basis and were awarded to encourage the development of new competitive services.
Possible uses include private GSM mobile phone networks in office buildings or campuses. The licences become effective following full payment of the fee by the winning bidders.
Among the 12 winners, the biggest bidder by far was COLT Mobile Telecommunications (£1.51 million), followed by Teleware (£1 million), BT (£275,112), O2 (£209,888) and Opal Telecom (£155,555). Earlier this week, UK broadband ISP Pipex already announced that its subsidiary Cyberpress won a GSM licence for £151,199/
The prices paid:
British Telecom £275,112
Cable & Wireless £51,002
Colt £1,513,218
Cyberpress (Pipex) £151,999
FMS Solutions £113,000
Mapesbury Communications £76,660
O2 £209,888
Opal Telecom (Carphone Warehouse £155,555
PLDT £88,889
Shyam Telecom £101,011
Spring Mobil AB £50,110
Teleware £1,001,880