The mmWave auction has now ended. All updates and notices relating to the auction are published on this page
The Information Memorandum and details of the policy consultations and decisions which we published before the auction are available under ‘background documents’ below and on our page ‘Enabling mmWave spectrum for new uses’.
The Regulations for the auction came into force on 30 June 2025.
Final Auction Results
On 24 October 2025, in accordance with Regulation 120 of the Wireless Telegraphy (Licence Award) Regulations 2025, we published the final results of the auction.
The Process Guidance is designed to provide information about practical aspects of the auction to potential applicants and bidders.
Statutory instruments
The Wireless Telegraphy (Licence Award) Regulations 2025, give effect to the decisions set out in our Notice of 11 November 2024.
The Wireless Telegraphy (Limitation of Number of Licences) Order 2025 (S.I. 2025/699) and The Wireless Telegraphy (Mobile Spectrum Trading) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 (S.I. 2025/700) give effect to the decisions set out in our Notice of 3 December 2024.
Auction documents
The Information Memorandum provides information for parties considering bidding in the auction, including the licence terms, and an outline description of the award process.
- mmWave Information Memorandum
- Annex 1 - 26 GHz Lower Draft licence
- Annex 2 - 26 GHz Upper Draft licence
- Annex 3 - 26 GHz Final Draft licence
- Annex 4 - 40 GHz Draft licence.
- Annex 5 - Coordination procedures under the Spectrum Access High Density 26 GHz and 40 GHz licences
The mmWave award licences will only authorise use of relevant frequency bands in designated areas within the UK, which we refer to as “High Density Areas”. This booklet sets out the areas in which award winners will be authorised to use the spectrum they are awarded:
On 13 December 2023, Fixed Link licensees in the 26 GHz band were given five years’ notice that their licences would be revoked. Since then, these licensees have been working to remove their links from the band ahead of the revocation deadline of 31 December 2028. As of 2 September 2025, there were 390 fixed links in the 26 GHz band subject to revocation (i.e., in and around high density areas), down 32 fixed links from the 422 fixed links at the time of our 13 May 2025 update.
The shapefiles below contain the latest data on the areas where award licensees will be required to coordinate new base station deployments in order to coexist with incumbent fixed links. We published updated shapefiles on 11 September 2025.
Historical shapefiles are available below:
- Area where mmWave award licensees will need to coordinate deployments - shapefiles 13 May 2025
- Area where mmWave award licensees will need to coordinate deployments - shapefiles 2 August 2024
Consultations and statements
The full list of consultations, statements and relevant annexes can be found under ‘Policy consultations and statements’ on the page ‘Enabling mmWave spectrum for new uses’
Ofcom will publish queries from stakeholders on the upcoming mmWave auction below.
Please send any questions about the mmWave auction to radiospectrum.award@ofcom.org.uk. We will publish answers to relevant questions below. However, we will not attribute questions to any individual or organisation.
1: What is the timeline for the auction and when will the Principal Stage begin?
We shall accept applications between the times of 10:00 (UK time) on 16 September 2025 and 16:00 (UK time) on 17 September 2025. We are currently unable to provide exact dates for other stages of the auction, however we confirm that the Principal Stage will not start before 13 October.
2: From the sample principal stage auction data, there is a minor difference between the bidding language in the Auction Regulations and the apparent bidding language used by the software. The Auction Regulations state that bids are made in terms of target quantities of lots. The software however, reports bids as “requested changes”. The term “requested change” does not seem to be defined in the UK auction regulations.
The auction software has been built to be intuitive to use, and therefore has some slight differences in wording to the regulations. These are self-explanatory and it will be easy to understand the linkage to the regulations once applicants have access to the software. Paragraphs 4.4 – 4.9 in our Process guidance for potential applicants and bidders in the auction details when applicants would have access to the EAS for training.
3: In the “Annex 5: Principal stage auction data example”, there is a double space between the words “posted” and “demand” cell AH1. Could this be removed?
Thank you, the space has been removed in the Electronic Auction System.
4: The initial deposit of £1m (to be made at application), is it correct to understand that assuming a bidder is then successfully qualified and proceeds to the principal stage, the £1m initial deposit is included in Ofcom’s calculation of the bidder’s eligibility limit for the first round of the principal stage? i.e. the initial deposit a bidder makes will be combined with its additional deposit, to determine its eligibility limit?
Yes, that is correct.
5: Have the designated areas been finalised now? I know that there were some questions raised about areas such as Avonmouth, where the mmWave is going to be pretty pointless for mobile operators (who don't have capacity constraints at the moment) but could be very useful for a private network at the docks. Unfortunately most (but not all) the docks are covered as a designated area. The same with the docks at Tilbury.
The full list of areas and their definitions is set out in our 'High Density Area Booklet', which is available on the mmWave Auction page. Separate to the auction, licences to use the 26 GHz band in both High Density and Low Density Areas are available through our shared access licensing regime. This regime offers local area licences on a first come, first served basis, which could be used to deploy, for example, a private network in a local area, such as the docks.
6: With reference to Section 1 of the Application Form: Could you please confirm what type of information you are expecting to see in the Applicant “Position” field?
The reference to the applicant’s “Position” in SECTION 1 (DETAILS OF THE APPLICANT) of the application form that we initially published was an error. Thank you for drawing it to our attention. We have published a revised version of the application form, omitting the “Position” field. If any applicant has already completed our initial version of the application form, we would ask them to either leave that field blank or cross it out.
7: With reference to Section 1 of the Application Form: Can we provide details of 2 (or more) contacts for the applicant company in this section so that they both/all receive notifications?
In SECTION 1 (DETAILS OF THE APPLICANT) of the application form, applicants can provide the name and contact details of more than one “individual contact within applicant”. Please note that, in line with paragraph A2.14 of the Process guidance for potential applicants and bidders in the auction, if an applicant provides more than one individual contact, we may use any one of those contacts at any given time. Where we contact the applicant by email, we will endeavour to copy the email to any other individual contacts provided by the applicant.
8: Confidential question seeking confirmation from Ofcom about the potential applicant’s approach to completing SECTION 4 (APPLICANT GROUP) of the application form. [✂].
In general, Ofcom does not give legal advice on the interpretation of the Wireless Telegraphy (Licence Award) Regulations 2025 (the “Regulations”), and it is for applicants to determine which persons should be listed in SECTION 4 (APPLICANT GROUP) of the application form. Please note that guidance in relation to the concept of “associates” and “members of an applicant or bidder group who are not associates” is set out in paragraphs 2.16-2.21 of the Process guidance for potential applicants and bidders in the auction.
9: The process guidance says:
“It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure the cleared funds are with our bank in good time, and we therefore encourage early payment.”
Please can you confirm that Ofcom will accept an Initial Deposit made by an applicant prior to the application days (16 and 17 September), for example, on 12 September?
If so, please can you advise on the process that any such applicant, and Ofcom, should follow, including how Ofcom would send an acknowledgement e-mail to confirm receipt of payment.
In the circumstances described in the question, we will not send an acknowledgment of receipt of the initial deposit before 16 September. If an applicant sends us the payment of its initial deposit, together with a remittance advice which identifies the applicant (in accordance with Regulation 4(3)(b)) before delivering its valid application documents in accordance with Regulation 4(3)(a), we will send acknowledgement of receipt of payment after we receive those documents.