Arqiva reports ‘excellent progress’ in 700MHz clearance

Arqiva has said it continues to make “excellent progress” in its work to clear the 700MHz spectrum, which is due to be reallocated from TV to mobile data use.

Announcing its first half of 2018 financial results, the UK infrastructure and media services firm said that all planned clearance events have so far been completed on time and on plan, and said its progress had helped the company to increase revenue by 5.0% on a like-for-like basis.

“From the delivery of new TV content to the clearance of the airwaves over which 5G will come to life, and the overall increasing demand for connectivity over the airwaves, we are a key enabler of a coming change,” said Simon Beresford-Wylie, CEO of Arqiva.

The 700MHz spectrum has been earmarked for use in future 5G wireless technology for mobile network providers. The spectrum clearance is due to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2020.

For the six-month period Arqiva said that revenue was up 3.4% to £482.0 million, helped by 7% growth in its terrestrial broadcast business to £239.4 million. EBITDA increased 11.0% during the period to £256.1 million.

“This strong performance can be attributed in part to an improvement in gross profit as a result of the revenue increase and shift in product mix, as well as improved operating efficiency and effective management cost-control through our FutureFit programme,” said the company in a statement.