Ofcom has given the go-ahead for public bodies to “sell” (share, trade, or release) off parts of the spectrum that are assigned to them, but that they don’t need. The market is potentially worth up to £20bn!
Apparently Public bodies use up around half the spectrum below 15GHz, which is the most sought-after. The Elephant in the room amongst public bodies is the MoD, which owns about 75% of this spectrum, and is in process consulting on how best to release significant amounts of it.
Overall, I can only see this being a good thing – there have been a number of stories in recent months about stalling projects, or potential issues, due to lack of spectrum. A couple that come to mind are the state of DVB-H Mobile Broadcast TV, and also the issues surrounding Terrestrial HDTV. If it’s possible to solve these, at least to some extent, whole ecosystems of value added services can move forward. The question remains as to how exactly the spectrum will be allocated – at the highest level, an auction will be held – but does that then bode well for smaller-sized organisations, with valid services? Interesting times ahead……..!
[Via: The Independent]