Since mobile communications began in the United Kingdom in 1985, with the licensing of two cellular networks, the number of subscribers has grown to eight million. Much of this growth has occurred in the past five years, which have also seen the emergence of new competition in the form of two PCN operators. The aim of this paper is to trace the development of competition between network operators over the period from 1985. We first present technological and regulatory considerations that are used as a background to understand relevant features related to the structure of the industry and to the growth of subscribers. The central part of the paper reviews the four operators' strategies, which are interpreted with the help of insights from economic theory.
