Vodafone has said it will increase the amount it invests in its UK network this year by 50 per cent, as it prepares to launch LTE in its home market. The operator plans to spend more than £900 million in the current financial year and expects its 4G service to go live by the late summer.

In the UK’s LTE spectrum auction, held in February this year, Vodafone paid close to £800m for 85MHz worth of spectrum in total, including 2x20MHz at 2.6GHz. Vodafone, which was the auction’s biggest spender, opted to pay an £8m supplement to be allocated the spectrum bands 801MHz to 811MHz and 842MHz to 852MHz. In addition, the operator paid a further £4m to be allocated the spectrum bands 2,500MHz to 2,520MHz and 2,620MHz to 2,640MHz.

While the group is spending more in the UK, Vodafone announced that it, along with China Mobile, has withdrawn from the process to win two telecommunications licences in Myanmar. The Vodafone-China Mobile consortium was among twelve short-listed applicants due to submit their final bid to the Myanmar authorities today. However, it has decided not to proceed with the process as the opportunity “does not meet the strict internal investment criteria to which Vodafone and China Mobile both adhere”, Vodafone said.

The LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, is taking place on the 24^th-26^th June 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Click here to download a brochure for the event.