Vodafone Faces Fivefold Spectrum-Fee Jump in Proposed UK Rules

Vodafone Group, Telefonica SA and others may have to pay bigger fees to the UK for rights to use spectrum after regulators increased the amount based on money raised in recent airwave auctions.

Under the proposed rules, fees for Vodafone and Telefonica’s O2 unit will increase fivefold. They’ll owe 83.1 million pounds ($132.4 million) per year for rights to use the 900 megahertz and 1800 megahertz spectrum bands, up from 15.6 million pounds previously, regulator Ofcom said. The new rules are expected to take effect next year, pending a consultation period that ends in December, Ofcom said. The British government asked Ofcom to recalculate the fees to reflect “full market value” after carriers spent billions on new licenses worldwide. This year, the UK raised 2.34 billion pounds in a spectrum auction for airwaves that would carry high-speed mobile Internet traffic.