On Thursday, in a statement the British government said, it has cleared the 700 MHz band of airwaves following a four-year program that involved returning nearly 20 million TV sets, and freeing up new capacity to for the auction of 5G mobile services in January 2021.

Releasing the spectrum will help increase the total amount of radio spectrum that will be available for mobile services in the UK by nearly a fifth, said the government.

“We have overseen a quiet revolution in the airwaves which will lead to better mobile coverage for rural communities and unlock new ways for 5G to boost business productivity and improve people’s lives,” said Matt Warman, Britain’s Digital Infrastructure Minister.