Auctions

Spectrum defines industry structure and opportunity. Acquiring the right amount of spectrum at the best possible price is a delicate and complex operation.

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Valuation

Spectrum is often the biggest investment decision an Operator will make – what is its true value to them? Determining the value of spectrum in the 5G era brings new challenges.

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Strategy

Advances in technology, bringing together 5G, AI, Big Data and IoT, will drive fundamental shifts in industries. Understanding technology is key to determining strategy.

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Thoughts from the recent European Spectrum conference

Delightful to see so many friends again and spend a few days talking about spectrum. It is a huge credit to Dan and everyone at Forum Europe for keeping this tight community together in these strangest of times through their virtual events.

Many of the debates were comfortably familiar: a new RSPP/WRC-23 planning, UHF (how much and when), sharing (we all like it, in theory at least), the progress in technology and the split between fiber/mobile/WiFi/broadcast/satellite.

My own three questions to ponder over the coming months are:

  1. For operators, would new bands, like upper 6 GHz, simply move investment away from the deployment of existing bands such as 3.5 GHz) and the refarming of traditional mobile bands? I do think a pause for reflection rather than the reflexive demand for ‘the next bands’ would be helpful. At some stage new spectrum (even if relatively cheap) is simply an invitation for new competitors and demands yet more network investment. Happy vendors and unhappy operators perhaps?
  2. For the Commission and national regulators, the desire to link spectrum policy to wider policy objectives makes complete sense. We must not squander this opportunity to use the insights and lessons from the pandemic to tackle deep-seated issues around inequality, education, health and climate change. There are rarely straight lines between spectrum decisions and such wider policy outcomes, but ‘joining the dots’ to learn what we can within Europe and around the world seems to me to be more important now than ever.
  3. For Governments, the war in Ukraine should remind everyone of the importance of spectrum in defence and security. The need for secure and resilient communications and systems requires different technologies to work together. I hope the current crisis doesn’t stop the excellent collaboration between defence and other sectors around spectrum sharing. Finding creative and innovative solutions requires openness and trust, and I wonder what we can all do to support that….

Real world discussion

Packing my suitcase for the first time in quite a while to head off to Brussels and the 17th European Spectrum Conference. We have been meeting virtually, of course, but there is an extra frisson of excitement in the prospect of some old-fashioned face to face chat and lively discussions over a glass or two of wine.

I’ll be moderating the kick off session on ‘A new Radio Spectrum Policy Programme for 5G and beyond’, where we will be discussing the overall aims and priorities for the new RSPP, ten years after the current one was introduced. We’ll have views from the Commission, Member States, industry and vendors, and hopefully lots of opinions and questions from the audience (both real and virtual). Given the seismic changes of the past few years, I’m also keen to focus on the way that spectrum policy is increasingly at the very heart of wider European policies such as the European Gigabit Society, the European Green Deal and Europe’s digital decade. 

On the second day we look even further into the future, when I’ll be moderating a session on 6G: how, and how quickly, the technology is developing, what bands are being anticipated around the world and whether ‘traditional’ policies around spectrum regulation will need to be torn up. It promises to be a fascinating discussion with insights from leading regulators, vendors and the satellite community.

New Year, changing industry

January is often a time to reflectct on the past 12 months and have a peek into the crystal ball of the future.

2019 saw the commercial launch of 5G – exciting. It sounds new, but really, what’s changing? There is an opportunity for a fundamental shift in how Operators deliver in a new 5G world, but any change seems to be taking a while.

To make the most of it, requires a bold change in mindset. Currently, the common use cases touted for 5G, for me, fail to really go far enough. We are seeing applications of low latency which are really not truly ‘mobile’ in nature. Using 5G, in the medical field, for remote surgery, is not a mobile use case – two hospitals, now matter how far apart, are linked by fibre, not mobile networks.

I am eagerly awaiting the first really exciting capitalisation on the opportunity the new technology affords us. My crystal ball tells me it is coming in 2020 for sure.

New Beginnings

So this is the launch month for Spectrivity. Much faffing with IT, bank accounts and contracts.

But some fun stuff too – a panel discussion at Ofcom’s excellent conference ‘Spectrum – Mapping the Future’ at the beautiful Royal Geographical Society. A whole day discussing spectrum – what could be better?

I was on a panel chaired by Chris Woolford with Jonas Wessel (Chair, RSPG), Paris Mashile (Councillor, ICASA) and Hema Remnani, (Director, IMDA). In the context of a lively discussion on international spectrum management, I talked a little about complexity, trust and value.

  • Complexity: to me you never actually get rid of complexity, you just move it around. Perhaps between the regulator, service provider, device or consumer, but wherever it sits there is always a cost associated with it.
  • Trust: to see real change in the way we manage spectrum I believe we need to fix the problem of trust, between the various industry stakeholders as well as with policymakers. As a result of this lack of trust I don’t believe we are solving the right problems. Instead we often end up with false compromises, conservative assumptions and wasted opportunity.
  • Value: finally I talked a little about the difficulty of valuing spectrum in the 5G Era – a combination of 5G, AI, Big Data and IoT. I asked, as I always do, for greater predictability from policymakers and regulators to help organisations better value spectrum in an increasingly uncertain world.

Exciting times indeed…..