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Home>Hot News
| 02/09/2009 | Why the sale of radio spectrum matters |
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| One of the big events that will affect lifestyles over the next decade has gone curiously unreported: the upcoming auctions of radio spectrum released by the end of analogue television...By Guardian One of the big events that will affect lifestyles over the next decade has gone curiously unreported: the upcoming auctions of radio spectrum released by the end of analogue television and the government.s decision to push public bodies, such as the military, to auction their unused spectrum worth up to £20bn. These auctions will determine how - and whether - we receive signals for high definition television, mobile broadband and other wonders in the offing. The problems of how we allocate spectrum - and the associated goal of delivering fast broadband to the home - are major public policy issues influencing the course of the UK economy. The key decisions are being left entirely to market forces. This is mostly admirable. Civil servants can.t decide what consumers will want a few years hence. Only companies risking their own money can do that, and even they sometimes get it wrong. There are two areas where government could have a vital role. First, where the systemic benefits exceed the returns to an individual company. BT argues that it cannot justify the cost of laying fibre to the home (FTTH) as opposed to a junction box down the road because it can.t see any profits nor any use for fibre-optic cable that can.t be met from existing capacity. But this ignores the likelihood that if fast broadband were in all homes, developers would soon dream up new products. Ten years ago most corporations couldn.t see the point of broadband. They failed to see that supply would create its own demand - witness the deluge of new uses, ranging from internet television to free phone calls. During a Westminster Media Forum on video-on-demand last week, when the question whether broadband-to-the-home might be mandated by government was raised, so many people appeared to be against it that it wasn.t even thought worth debating. One wonders whether the same reaction would have been triggered had they been required to decide whether water or electricity to the home should be left to market forces. BT.s conservatism may soon change now that rival Virgin has, commendably, announced a roll-out this year of FTTH of up to 50 megabits a second (up to 10 times most current speeds). But it is highly unlikely that this will lead to ubiquitous FTTH in the way that is happening in South Korea and Japan - in both cases with measured government support. Which raises the second area of concern - unless the government intervenes, a huge digital divide will emerge. It is bad enough now when poorer people are deprived of access to the web.s gateway to knowledge and entertainment. But if you think of what might be happening in a few years time - such as instantaneous access to your doctor or hospital by live video link - then lack of fast broadband access will cause real deprivation. Access to broadband will be as important as the right to have electricity or water. What can be done? Later this year the government will be auctioning spectrum in the 2.6GHz band which could be used for many things, including a country-wide WiMax network delivering mobile broadband with speeds of up to 26Mbps, almost 10 times current speeds. If manufacturers know this is coming, they can start designing devices giving instant mobile access to anything from a virtual world to your local GP. Such a system would also offer members free telephone calls anywhere to other users. Existing 3G operators won.t be keen - except to ensure it doesn.t fall into enemy hands. Yet mobile broadband might be the best way to recharge the UK economy and simultaneously to bridge the digital divide. The auction is "technology-neutral", so successful bidders can do what they like with spectrum they acquire. Everything may turn out OK, but if it doesn.t then a rare opportunity for Britain to lead from the front will have been missed. |
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