Fixed lines provider BT, managed networks firm MLL Telecom and Hong Kong's PCCW Limited would enter the auction, Ofcom said, as well as all of the existing mobile network operators - EE, Vodafone, O2 owner Telefonica and Hutchison, which is behind Three.
Bidders will be competing for spectrum in two separate bands - 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz, it said. The lower frequency 800 MHz band was freed up when analogue terrestrial TV was switched off.
EE, a joint venture between France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, has already launched 4G services in major British cities by reallocating its existing airwaves.
(Reporting by Paul Sandle)
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