Another pot of gold
Ofcom announced a consultation about detailed proposals on how it will auction “tradable and flexible” licenses to use the UHF spectrum freed up by the move to digital television in 2009-12. The first auction for 128 MHz will take place in 2009 and is being referred to as the digital dividend.
The announcement says the auction will “enable innovative services that will deliver significant benefits to UK citizens and consumers.” It will also make a ton of money for a cash-strapped government – the recipients of said “dividend”.
The consultation document, unfortunately sub-filed under “condocs,” is posted here. The process will close on 15 August 2008.
European Communications Commissioner Viviane Reding will not be pleased. She wishes to see the DVB-H standard imposed across Europe, and the fact that successful bidders in the Ofcom auction can adopt other standards will be taken as a slap in the face.
Which is what it is. France and Germany have joined the UK in opposing Reding’s dream of a pan-European regulator, which means the top-down standards cat is out of the bag and alternatives like Qualcomm’s MediaFLO can establish what customers really want.
Maybe Reding should get together with Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes and decide how to square the circle of their apparently irreconcilable philosophies.
