Ofcom unveils spectrum auction

[BGonaSTICK]

Ed Richards, chief executive of media regulator Ofcom, has unveiled proposals for the UK's largest spectrum auction.

Spectrum in three bands could be used for new mobile television services, as well as mobile broadband wireless services. Announcing the proposals, Richards said: "Releasing more spectrum to the market will create new opportunities for innovation in wireless technologies, promoting competition and driving convergence."

Ofcom will release 215 MHz of spectrum in three licensed bands: 2500-2690 MHz, 2010-2025 MHz and 2290-2300 MHz. Organisations bidding for the licences will be able to decide for themselves how the spectrum will be used, and what it will be used for, subject to "certain minimum technical specifications to prevent harmful interference". The auction is set to take place by the end of 2007.

Ofcom said market research had identified four main categories of services which could be operated in the spectrum bands:

• [#] Advanced mobile telephony services using 3G technologies and their evolutions (UMTS FDD, HSPA and Long Term Evolution), which are optimised for a mix of voice and data traffic. These would allow the further development of mobile telephony and data services currently available in the UK.
  
  [#] Broadband wireless services using WiMAX standards or a variant of the 3G family (UMTS TDD), which are optimised for carrying data with Voice over IP (VoIP) calls as one data application.
  
  [#] Mobile multimedia services that could complement cellular or broadband wireless services or be stand-alone services, using applications based on MBMS or TDtv, as well as technologies such as DVB-H or DMB. "Any of these technologies could potentially allow the delivery of broadcast content to portable multimedia devices," said Ofcom.
  
  [#] Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE) services, primarily for digital video applications (e.g. wireless cameras, temporary links, mobile or portable links), enabling such activities as news coverage and the broadcasting of planned events, for example concerts or football games.

Today's proposals, now the subject of a consultation, are part of a wider Ofcom programme to release around 400 MHz over the next few years. That programme includes a dozen different bands including the spectrum freed by turning off analogue television under the Government's 2007-2012 switchover timetable. Ofcom said this release would create "major opportunities for extra innovation and competition in wireless services".