Following its initial consultation, Ofcom recently issued its assessment of future mobile competition and revised proposals for the auction of 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum in the UK. Ofcom has significantly revised its proposals set out in its first consultation, and the auction has disappointingly (although not unexpectedly) slipped to Q4 2012 at the …
On 1 September 2011, Ofcom published a statement outlining its intention to permit the use of white space spectrum in some of the the bands currently used for TV (470-790 MHz). Ofcom’s policy will be implemented through a statutory instrument which will make relevant devices licence exempt. This is in contrast to the approach of …
The European Commission published on 6 April a Communication on policy objectives for the International Telecommunications Union World Radiocommunications Conference 2012 (WRC 12). WRC 12 is the next quadrennial meeting of governments and other stakeholders to coordinate international spectrum policy and to update the Radio Regulations. In marked contrast to many Commission documents, the Communication shows the Commission’s nervousness at Europe’s negotiating …
Ofcom yesterday started a consultation on the rules for a proposed auction of 250 MHz of spectrum in the 800 MHz (aka ‘digital dividend’) band and 2.6 GHz band in the first half of 2012. This is equivalent to 75% of existing mobile spectrum. Whilst widely reported in the press as a ‘4G’ auction, apart from a proposed …
The biggest news this weekend was the announcement of the proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA by AT&T from Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion. The deal is conditional on regulatory approval, and I’ll be watching with interest as the other US mobile networks seek to gain advantage through the regulatory process. AT&T is the second largest US network and …
Ofcom permits 2G spectrum refarming Ofcom yesterday varied the spectrum licences of the UK’s three 2G spectrum licensees (EverythingEverywhere (JV between Orange and T-Mobile), Vodafone and O2) to permit them to use those frequencies for 3G services (mobile broadband) as well as 2G services (such as voice and SMS). For more detail see the Olswang update (thanks to Telecommentator). Uncertainty about digital …
Re-reading yesterday’s post, I hope it wasn’t too close to a law firm client update – that is not being the point of this blog. I thought I’d try to redress the balance today, and as I drove from London to Exmoor for Christmas, with the snow by the side of the road steadily increasing, …
With my first post done, I thought it best to try and provide a little substantive content. Two years ago, I spent some time interviewing various CEOs, strategy and regulatory directors in various international communications companies to get their thoughts on the big issues that were coming up. With the end of the year approaching …