The change in the UK leadership has delayed plans to auction spectrum in the 800MHz band, said a spokesperson for the Department for Business and Enterprise.
The comments follow a report in the Sunday Times, which suggested that new communications…
The change in the UK leadership has delayed plans to auction spectrum in the 800MHz band, said a spokesperson for the Department for Business and Enterprise.
The comments follow a report in the Sunday Times, which suggested that new communications minister Ed Vaizey is set to announce he will go ahead with the £5bn-rated auction of the UK’s 800MHz airwaves spectrum.
The spokesperson was unable to comment on the timing, since allocating spectrum is “very complicated”. The previous Labour government had hoped to find time to lay the statutory framework for such an auction before the general elections, but had been unable to do so. As such, the new minister was spending considerable time coming to grips with the lay of the land.
The article suggested the sale would take place in the first half of 2011, and the freed-up spectrum would be available when the digital switchover takes place in 2012 with the switching off of the analogue signal. The sale would be Britain’s largest since the £22bn 3G mobile auction in 2000.
“Ministers will make a decision in due course”, the spokesperson said.
Simon Harris, director at PwC, reacted to the report, calling the auction “vital” to the UK’s telecoms and broadcasting sectors. He said that the new spectrum would enable high-speed networks to be rolled out at the lowest possible cost, while also facilitating rural access to high speed services.
“We’ve seen ?4.4bn recently raised in Germany, and estimate that this spectrum and the 2.6GHz band, also due to be sold off, has a value of some ?40bn across Europe. However, the situation in the UK is more complicated, due to the current uneven distribution of spectrum and the merger of T-Mobile and Orange.
Harris suggested that spectrum caps could be one solution, although these might make an auction less competitive. He stressed the importance of the design of any such auction, saying that this plus the ability and willingness of new entrants to get involved, will “have a significant impact on the funds raised.”
