Ofcom to auction off military airwaves Ofcom said the auction is likely to be particularly attractive to the mobile industry, as both bands are frequencies which could be used to deliver high capacity data. The explosion in demand for internet on the move means mobile companies are increasingly looking to provide more bandwidth on Britain's crowded airwaves. The telecoms regulator noted that Apple iPhone 5 and 6, HTC's Desire and Samsung's Galaxy are compatible with the 2.3 GHz spectrum in other countries, and the band is being used for high-speed 4G mobile broadband networks in 10 countries outside Europe. The 3.4GHz is already used for wireless broadband in UK and five other countries. The military is handing over communications frequencies The auction is currently planned to divide up the 190 MHz of spectrum being sold into 38 lots of 5 MHz each, with reserve prices of £1m per lot in the 3.4GHZ band, and £2.5 to £5m in the 2.3 GHz band. Bidders can request a minimum of four lots per band. To promote competition, Ofcom plans a cap so that mobile operators will not be able to hold more than 37pc of each band. The planned sale is equivalent to three-quarters of the airwaves released by Ofcom through the 4G auction in 2013. However the amount expect to be raised in the planned sales is only a fraction of what was brought in by the previous one, which collected a total of £2.34bn - though this undershot the £3.5bn the Government had expected to raise from the auction. Both auctions pale in comparison with the £22.5bn that the 3G auction brought in back in 2001.