Kip Meek, the spectrum broker appointed as part of the UK government’s Digital Britain report, has published his proposals for the future of mobile broadband. There’ll now be a consultation period until January 2010, after which the proposals are likely to be implemented by Ofcom.
The proposals – which are designed to lead to improved mobile broadband coverage across the UK - include:
Making the existing 3G licence terms indefinite but charging an annual fee from 2021,
Making the existing 2G licence terms indefinite but allowing networks to trade their allocation for new frequencies,
Capping spectrum allowances to ensure that no mobile operator can monopolise any frequency band,
Auctioning the 2.6GHz and 800MHz spectrum as soon as possible.
[Consultation document (pdf)]