Ofcom has named the seven companies bidding for the bandwidth to hose 4G mobile broadband services.
The companies are Everything Everywhere (EE), which is already providing the service, BT, Vodafone, Telefonica (02), Three, MLL Telecom, and PCCW.
The auction will begin next month, with licences being granted in March and the services beginning early next summer.
The auction is expected to raise £3.5bn for the public purse, with Ofcom’s chief executive Ed Richard’s predicting that 4G services would “stimulate investment, growth and innovation” within the UK.
EE began to roll out the service in the UK in early in October having won the first license to do so.