British telecom firms EE, VodafoneThree, and Virgin Media O2 have spent a combined $52.35m on millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum during Ofcom's latest spectrum auction.

As part of the auction, 5.4-gigahertz of spectrum was up for grabs in the U.K., covering the "lower" and "upper" segments of the 26 GHz band and the 40 GHz spectrum bands.

The telecom operators each spent $17.45m during the auction, with the spectrum set to help the operators bolster their respective 5G networks.

Each operator walked away with 800-megahertz of spectrum across the 26 GHz band and 1,000-megahertz of spectrum in the 40 GHz band. Virgin Media O2 noted the price paid equates to a cost of $0.00019 per-MHz/population in the 26 GHz band and $0.000094 per-MHz/population in the 40 GHz band.

"This new investment in high-speed, high-capacity mobile airwaves is a strong result from the auction and pairs perfectly with our strategy to transform our mobile network and give our customers a trustworthy and reliable mobile connectivity experience wherever they are," Virgin Media O2 CEO Lutz Schüler said of the results.

Ofcom stated that the auction will move to the assignment stage, noting that the companies can bid for the frequency positions they prefer for the airwaves they have secured in the principal stage.

"Today’s results are an important milestone on the path to better, faster 5G," David Willis, Ofcom’s group director for spectrum, noted. "The large amount of spectrum we’ve released will help support innovation, open doors to new applications and growth, and can bring noticeable improvements to mobile services in busier places up and down the U.K."