UK telecoms regulator Ofcom is still in a quandary about when or if to auction its 1452 to 1492 MHz spectrum in the UK, initially earmarked for Mobile TV of one sort or another or potentially satellite radio, if anyone in the UK thinks they can make money from what is a peculiarly US phenomena.
In essence Ofcom is saying that it is unlikely to be ready to auction this spectrum off by its second deadline of December, because there are so many issues to deal with and it has put out a second request for comments on a new set of proposals. It is concerned that the European Commission will harmonize the use of the 1452-1479.5 MHz band, but that it won’t have completed its deliberations until the December meeting of its Radio Spectrum Committee, which would leave no time for a December auction.
The issues Ofcom has put up for discussion include the method of the auction, and how that would relate to two separate types of networks, those with a low number of transmitters operating with very high effective radiated power and those with more transmitters, which each have less power. Multiple respondents in the past have suggested that the two types of networks would not work well together and the result would be interference across the bands.
So Ofcom has proposed a huge 3.4 MHz guard band between them and to put all of one type of network below the band and all the other types above it. It has also said that it will not limit the auction to single 1.55 MHz slices that are used when DAB is used in L Band spectrum, which means that Ofcom is preparing the way for a pro-DVB-H (see article elsewhere in this issue) decision and mandating the technology and 8MHz chunks of spectrum, even in L Band.
BSkyB remains the most likely bidder to use this spectrum for Mobile TV, using MediaFLO, but the European Commission may well insist on a DVB-H provision going with any 8MHz blocks or T-DMB in smaller slices, effectively banning MediaFLO for reasons of interoperability of equipment across Europe. Ofcom is clearly not planning to buck the Commission, but its own instincts would be to issue the spectrum without unduly inhibiting the proposal of alternative technologies.
The spectrum had originally been set aside for an auction last April, but it was moved to December, and the chances are it will be moved again.
The big problem for Europe is that where there is no UHF spectrum available, such as in the UK, it will cost up to four times the amount to build out 1452 MHz mobile TV coverage for something like DVB-H or MediaFLO. It is far more interesting to have 700 MHz spectrum for these services.
Allowing very high levels of ERP may half the costs, hence the considerations by Ofcom to split the chunks of spectrum, but still will not create a network as cheap as UFH. If UHF spectrum can be found, as is already being used in Italy and which has already been found in Germany, France and Spain, then the value of this L Band spectrum is likely to fall. But if DVB-H is mandated for it, it may also force local wireless operators Vodafone, Orange, 3 and O2 to shift their plans to another form of mobile TV to avoid high network costs. That could be Alcatel’s satellite S-Band approach or multicasting using MBMS, which they have on trial. These operators have said that they plan to bid for this spectrum, but specifically told us that they would not use it for Mobile TV if they won it.