The UK government has decided to delay the fixed wireless radio spectrum auction, which was due to begin next Monday, to allow it to review applicants in more detail.

Business relationships between prospective bidders will be reviewed by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), which said it had put back the start of the 28Ghz auction "indefinitely".

A DTI spokesman stressed that the dates already given had been provisional, and that the delay had been made to "check if any of the companies had associations with each other", a step which was felt necessary after the controversy surrounding similar issues during bidding for third generation mobile licenses this summer.

Broadband fixed wireless services will provide businesses and consumers with cheap, high-speed internet and multimedia access by radio links instead of down telephone lines.

Three spectrum licences in the 28Ghz band will be auctioned in each of 11 English regions, as well as in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Reserve prices for the auction, which is expected to take around three weeks to complete, range from £4m per licence in London to £100,000 in Northern Ireland.

Applicants include Atlas Communications, Broadnet, Chorus Communication, Energis Local Access, Faultbasic, FirstMark Communications, Formus Communications, Norweb Telecom, Orange Personal Communications Services, Priority Wireless, Templeco 489 and Winstar Communications.

Industry observers now expect the auction to begin at the beginning of next month.

"The auction should not be delayed for too long. If it's delayed more than a week or two it will be felt that the government is not managing the auction process properly," said Yum Petkovic, a senior consultant at analysts Ovum.

"Fixed wireless services are important because they provide cheaper broadband access, typically at around 2Mbps, to small companies in urban areas with smaller delays. Broadband services can be supplied much quicker via wireless," added Petkovic.

See also:

Bidless broadband auction fiasco

Telcos ignore fixed wireless auction  19 Nov 2001

Radio spectrum auction fails to tune in

This week's auction of fixed spectrum radio licences was an embarrassing debacle. So what went wrong?  24 Nov 2000

UK broadband auction flops

The UK government has sold only a third of its fixed radio spectrum licences - netting a mere £38m in the much-anticipated auction.  21 Nov 2000

Swiss delay 3G auction

Switzerland has postponed its planned auction of four next-generation mobile phone licences after the withdrawal of candidates left only four bidders in the race.  13 Nov 2000

Telcos admit fears over 3G licences

Telecoms operators have admitted that their £68bn investment in third-generation mobile technology could end in "disaster" because services won't live up to the hype.  28 Sep 2000

EU to get tough with 3G operators

Third-generation mobile operators face tough scrutiny from the European Commission and won't be allowed to overcharge for services, despite the high prices paid for licences.  28 Sep 2000

UK braced for fixed wireless auction

As prospective bidders last week got on their marks for the auction process for UK fixed wireless broadband licences, e-minister Patricia Hewitt failed to allay fears that high prices will be passed on to business users.  13 Sep 2000

Telcos tune into radio spectrum auction

The auction for 28Ghz Broadband Fixed Wireless Access licences has begun, but many industry watchers feel that bidding in this way is not the best method of choosing the most suitable service providers.  12 Sep 2000

Spectrum auction could be licence to kill

The UK government's decision to auction off broadband wireless local loop licences has aroused similar fears to the auctioning of 3G licences earlier this year - that prices will skyrocket and that coverage for rural areas will be poor.  10 Sep 2000

Broadband costs could rocket

Industry groups claim the Government is imposing an indirect tax.  30 Aug 2000

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