Decision time for spectrum?
28 June 2010
A couple of weeks ago I attended the Consumer Forum for Communications, hosted by Ofcom and attended by a wide range of consumer groups. One of the items was a discussion about spectrum, including how it works, the history and some of the current issues. There has been an explosion of services in the past 20 years which have placed huge new demands on spectrum, including the increasing popularity of 3G. In just over 2 years over 4m mobile dongles* have been sold, and in 2009 mobile data traffic increased 200%. The popularity of these and other technologies is putting increasing pressure on the quality of service some consumers receive. So, while it may sound like something to leave to the geeks, spectrum has important implications for consumers.
Under the previous government, a deal was brokered by the Independent Spectrum Broker Kip Meek, designed to free up capacity on the networks. The deal is sitting on the new Government's books as a statutory instrument, which means it could be ready to go. However, it is controversial, with BT and a number of the mobile operators unhappy with the terms of the deal. The problems aren't going to go away though, and while there is no perfect solution the status quo is clearly not in the interests of consumers.
In last week's budget George Osbourne announced that a decision on spectrum would be made before Summer recess on 21 July, so hopefully we will soon have some answers. The hope is that whatever decision the new coalition government takes, they will make sure that the interests of consumers as well as industry are central. And, while it is likely to be a difficult task, the prospect of a little extra revenue for the treasury from any future spectrum auctions may provide some motivation - especially given all the talk of austerity and cuts.
*Dongles are also sometimes called USB modems. They are a small piece of hardware that connects to a laptop or desktop computer and plugs the user in to a wireless network.