Summary

  • After a sealed bid for one 25 MHz lot, Ofcom expects each bidder to top up its deposit to at least the amount of its own offer by 11:59 on the next business day.
  • A late payment makes the bid invalid, excludes the bidder and costs it the £1 million initial deposit; Ofcom releases individual results only after the deadline.

Analysis

The bid window closes at noon, but the answer does not arrive with it. At 12:15, Ofcom expects to tell each bidder how much more it must put on deposit. The bidder then has until 11:59 the next business day to fund its own offer, while the individual result stays under wraps. Cash is checked before the winner is named.

Ofcom's process guidance sets out a single 120-minute round for 1492–1517 MHz, expected to run from 10:00 to 12:00 GMT on a business day other than Friday. Applicants must already have placed £1 million with Ofcom by 23:59 on the application day. After bidding, total cleared funds on the account—including that initial deposit—must reach at least the bidder's own offer by the deadline.

That is collateral, not the final licence price. Under the second-price rule, the winner pays the price produced by that rule and gets the difference between its bid and that amount back. Unsuccessful bidders receive their deposits back unless a forfeiture applies. Ofcom intends, in most cases, to start refunds two business days after bidding.

The result follows the cash check. Ofcom says individual results will be sent only after the required-deposit deadline; full results are scheduled for 07:00 on the business day after that deadline. A bidder must therefore secure funds while still waiting to learn whether it won.

Ofcom says the bid-sized deposit discourages strategic overbidding and supports timely payment. It also recognizes that holding money has a temporary financing cost. In the final draft, Ofcom adjusted a separate forfeiture rule: a bidder that submits no bid or an invalid bid loses the initial £1 million, while additional sums are returned. The late-payment rule still invalidates the bid and forfeits the initial deposit.

The October regulations are final drafts that Ofcom expects to make in November. Applications are expected to open in mid-January 2027, not before 14 January, with the award due before the end of February. No applicant, bid or result is public yet.

Sources