EE Ltd v Office of Communications (Rev 1)

EE Ltd v Office of Communications (Rev 1)

Ofcom was correct to interpret the Secretary of State’s 2010 direction as requiring it to set annual licence fees at market value, leaving no discretion to consider other factors. Ofcom’s refusal to use cost modelling was a reasonable exercise of regulatory judgment given the sufficiency of auction benchmarking evidence.

Parties
Claimant: EE Limited; Defendant: Office of Communications; Interested Party: Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport; Interested Party: Vodafone Limited; Interested Party: Telefónica UK Limited; Interested Party: Hutchison 3G UK Limited
Jurisdiction
England and Wales
Judgment Date
26 August 2016
Procedural Posture
Judicial Review / Final Judgment
Outcome
Judicial review dismissed
Legal Topics
Spectrum Pricing, Regulatory Directions, Judicial Review, Market Value Assessment, Impact Assessment, EU Regulatory Compliance
Telecommunications Law Administrative Law EU Law Spectrum Pricing Regulatory Directions Judicial Review Market Value Assessment Impact Assessment +1 more

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Parties

EE Limited

Claimant

Office of Communications

Defendant

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

Interested Party

Vodafone Limited

Interested Party

Telefónica UK Limited

Interested Party

Hutchison 3G UK Limited

Interested Party

Procedural Posture

Judicial Review / Final Judgment

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether Ofcom erred in law by interpreting the Secretary of State’s 2010 direction as requiring annual licence fees to be set at market value to the exclusion of other factors required by EU and domestic law.
  2. 2 Whether Ofcom wrongly failed to consider cost modelling evidence in determining annual licence fees for spectrum.

Ratio Decidendi

Ofcom was correct to interpret the Secretary of State’s 2010 direction as requiring it to set annual licence fees at market value, leaving no discretion to consider other factors. Ofcom’s refusal to use cost modelling was a reasonable exercise of regulatory judgment given the sufficiency of auction benchmarking evidence.

Court Disposition

Judicial review dismissed