UK telecoms regulator Ofcom said that a consultation into a proposal to allow Everything Everywhere (EE) to use its 1800MHz spectrum to launch LTE services had raised “a number of detailed issues that Ofcom must now consider carefully.”

Among the respondents were rival operators Telefonica and Vodafone UK, which have argued that the move would give Everything Everywhere an unfair first-mover advantage.

In its statement, Telefonica argued that the move would lead to “the creation of a monopoly provider of 4G national wholesale services for a period of at least 18 months and very likely substantially longer.” It observed that “this is an extraordinary step for a national regulatory authority to take, given its duty to promote competition and its stated policy of intervening ex ante to secure a four player 4G national wholesale market.”

Vodafone said: “Ofcom’s current consultation proposes to give an unjustifiable head start to the largest player which could seriously undermine competition in the UK market for many years to come.”

In its own response, Everything Everywhere argued that the LTE technology it will deploy is “an incremental upgrade from existing 3G technology,” and that “any competitive advantage which Everything Everywhere will obtain as a result will not be unmatchable or enduring and there will, therefore, be no distortion of competition.”

It also noted “a number of factors” which will limit the potential of the technology, but these were largely redacted from the response – although the limited availability of LTE 1800MHz handsets was noted.

Ofcom had previously said it was “minded” to allow Everything Everywhere to use its spectrum for LTE, but this was ahead of the responses from the operator’s rivals. It has also been criticised for its LTE frequency auction plans.

EE has begun aggressively promoting the benefits of its early 4G rollout, arguing that it could add £75 billion to UK gross domestic product by the end of the decade. The ability to provide connectivity to areas underserved by fixed broadband deployments was also highlighted.

The regulator said it will publish a statement on the issue “as early as possible.”