LONDON (Brand Republic) - The UK government today launched the auction for licences to provide wireless broadband internet access.
Ten companies are participating in the auction, including Energis Local Access, Norweb, Broadnet UK and Chorus Communication.
There are 42 broadband fixed wireless access licences on offer, three for each region in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Prices for the licences, which are valid until December 2015, range from £100,000 in Northern Ireland to £4m in Greater London. Each bidder can only buy one licence in each region.
The reserve price for the 42 licences is £78m, but some believe the auction could fetch as much £1bn. As well as raising cash, the government hopes the auction will speed up the delivery of fast internet access services.
Patricia Hewitt, the minister for e-commerce and small business, said, 鈥淯K businesses and the economy more generally will benefit from this new competition, which I expect will result in a faster rollout of innovative services and lower prices.鈥