Britain to limit BT/EE's role in 2017 mobile spectrum auction

LONDON, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Britain will sell a new batch of mobile broadband spectrum next year in an auction designed to prevent the biggest player, BT/EE, from becoming too dominant.

Telecoms regulator Ofcom said on Monday it would auction 190 MHz of spectrum in the 2.3 GHz and 3.4 GHz bands - an increase of just under a third of the total mobile spectrum currently available.

In order to maintain competition between the four mobile operators, Ofcom said it would prevent BT/EE from bidding for spectrum in the 2.3 GHz band.

Ofcom said BT/EE currently holds 45 percent of immediately useable UK mobile spectrum, ahead of Vodafone on 28 percent, O2 on 15 percent and Three on 12 percent.

The 150 MHz of spectrum to be sold in the 3.4 band is not currently used by most mobile devices, but is likely to be usable by future devices in coming years. Ofcom will not propose a cap on the 3.4 GHz band. (Reporting by Kate Holton; editing by Sarah Young)