Mobile Network Operators (UK)

UK Mobile Network Operators.

image ©trinitymaxwell.com



Useful Links
EE website
O2 website
THREE website
Vodafone website

A Mobile Network Operator (MNO), also known as a Mobile Network Carrier, is a provider of the infrastructure upon which mobile services are delivered. When a mobile customer requests a mobile service this is delivered by one of the MNOs; be that service a phone call, SMS message or mobile data request.

There are four MNOs in the UK, in size of customer base order :

  • EE - owned by BT.
  • O2 - owned by Virgin Media.
  • Vodafone - owned by Vodafone
  • Three - owned by Hutchison Telecoms Group.

These four companies provide the mobile network within the UK. They purchase, the licenses, setup the network and manage the services provided. In addition, there are a number of Mobile Network Virtual Operators in the UK. These organisations piggy-back on one of the four mobile network operators.

A bit of history.

  • Vodafone and Cellnet were the two operators who started the original 1G analogue network in the UK. Vodafone has maintained the name through 2G. 3G, 4G and 5G. They are listed on the UK stock market. Cellnet was originally owned by BT. It was rebranded as O2 and subsequently sold to Telephonica and is now owned by VirginMedia-O2.
  • At the allocation of the 2G licences another 2 operators were allowed into the market, as well as Vodafone and O2. Orange and One-2-One were the two companies allocated 2G frequencies. One-2-One originally intended to run their network within the M25 but later expanded to the whole of the UK. The company was later owned by T-Mobile with a related name change.
  • As part of the 3G licence offer, the UK government wanted another company in the market. This position was taken by THREE. Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile and Orange all operated 3G networks.
  • Vodafone, O2 THREE were allocated frequency in the 4G auction. The allocation of the 4G network coincided with BT taking ownership of both T-Mobile and Orange. The combined 4G network ran under the EE name. Initially the 2G network kept the original names but later everything was changed to EE. Interestedly BT independently to EE, purchased some 4G frequency but never ran a separate network, all their frequency was combined into the EE brand.
  • All 4 existing networks purchased frequency to run 5G [Vodafone, O2, EE and THREE]. Initially OfCom released some frequency at 3.4GHz to run 5G and later frequency at 800MHz as well as frequency at 3.6GHz.