Everything Everywhere isn't happy about it. The other operators seems happy about it at the moment, though - looks like EE are spitting the dummy out because they're no longer being reserved any spectrum.
I think attaching the coverage obligation to only one license is an interesting move, and it'll go either one of two ways. Either the other networks will try and compete with the coverage levels of whatever operator has this license, which will keep prices low, or we'll have three operators with reasonable prices but comparatively poor coverage and one expensive operator with 98% coverage.
I don't understand why the obligation has to be by % of population covered, though, surely stipulating a % of geographical coverage would be more effective at ensuring rural areas get covered.