Convergence Conversation

The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, have issued a consultative document on its intention to direct Ofcom to get on with auctioning the spectrum which is to be released following the move from analogue TV.  The document appeared on the very afternoon that Ofcom launched its Digital Participation Consortium.  How well are the objectives aligned?

Reconciling the intent of creating a Universal Broadband Service, through defining a minimum commitment, making provision for not spots,  and championing the case of the digitally excluded with the practice of  selling radio spectrum to the highest bidder will never be easy,  some would say the objectives are totally incompatitable.  Here is a quick summary of what I could glean.  The document kindly outlines some bandwidth scarcity metrics to aid the auction process.  It also begins to outline the limits of future Mobile Broadband experience. Note, no new services before 2012!

It is supposed that this new auction process will allow 4/5 operators to acquire new spectrum and trade old spectrum so new improved Mobile Broadband services can be made available.  In the Digital Britain report it was assumed Mobile Broadband (LTE) would play a big part in the USC.  In this document   anybody pitching for spectrum for rural coverage (in the 800Mhz band) would be obliged to provide 99% coverage,  and eningeer a 90% probability of delivering to .1% of the population, if that number were online,  a 1.5 Mbps service.  I guess this is more than there is now, but the numbers look to be more tuned to pumping auction fees than to delivering a broadband experience suitable to support good quality home working.  In fact no outcomes or objectives are outlined and no quality objectives for the bandwidth are outlined.

The spectrum intended for urban use at 2.1 Ghz would carry a 90% coverage target with a 90% probability that .1% of the population could achieve 768Kbps if .1% of the population were connected.   This is less relevant to the USO but more pertinent if you planning to cancel your fixed line,  or your planning to be a heavy user.

Intended or not these, then are the new planned scarcity metrics to be used when planning future services for the next decade.  These numbers makes it official policy that Mobile Broadband will only ever be a supplemental service to a fixed service!   

Like all things Digital Britain,  it is the items not being considered which are of most interest.  There is still no notion of converged fixed and mobile services even though LTE uses IP data transport.  There is no notion that data transport and the services on top will be regulated separately in this new world,  something being planned in economies planning next generation services.  There no notion of a single naming and addressing function,  and there is no minimum application set defined,  just the shape of an auction process designed to extract as much cash as possible.  Competitive markets fixated with preserving legacy revenues will not of themselves permit these developments to occur, as the markets as defined no longer reflect how we use our connectivity.

From a BBBritain perspective we will certainly respond and suggest more ambitious outcomes should be planned for this scarce resource.  The Finns and the French decided this spectrum resource was so valuable that it should not be auctioned but utilised to achieve national economic and environmental goals. Given the debt carried by our existing operators the auction heist provides an interesting angle to Ofcoms new responsibility to encourage investment in this sector.  I guess the message is,  invest all you can (£600m per tier1 operator) but before you do hand over all your money to buy the right to invest!