WRC-15: the beginning of the end for regional agreements?
But the lack of consensus in Region 1 over IMT identification in the upper reaches of the C-band, an area which looked destined to be troublesome, and the patchwork agreement for mobile in the lower...
View ArticleWhat mattered most to the spectrum community in 2015?
The UHF band generated much interest in 2015, with 700 MHz getting particular attention from our readers. France sold six blocks of 2 x 5 MHz spectrum in the band at an auction where Bouygues, Free,...
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The BT/EE merger could see more than one perfect storm on the horizon
With one hand Ofcom has granted BT a fresh chance at owning a mobile network, albeit one run by another management team, which looks to have put to bed questions around BT’s commitment to creating its...
View ArticleThe European Commission's legal action over spectrum: what can it achieve?
When I first saw the case papers for the Commission’s action against the European Council, I was struck not only by the idea of the Commission taking legal action against one of its counterparts, with...
View ArticleSpectrum survey pushes Commission harmonisation agenda
The debate on the UHF band continues and in a recent PolicyTracker interview, we saw Pascal Lamy, author of the 2014 Lamy Report public consultation on the future of the UHF band, predict the return of...
View ArticleThe US/EU policy divide over 5G
Next month, a 5G Action Plan – informed in no small part by the European telecommunications industry’s 5G Manifesto – will be unveiled by BrusselsA leaked draft communication from the Commission to the...
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Does 2+2 = 5G?
George Orwell: repeat 2 + 2 = 5 often enough and we believe it to be trueConflating the current spectrum needs of the mobile industry with the future of connectivity is the public relations narrative...
View ArticleOfcom has kept up well with the challenges of the UK 4G PPDR network
Vincent Kennedy, Motorola Solutions' general manager in Europe, told this week’s House of Commons Public Accounts Committee hearing on the UK emergency services network that what his firm is trying to...
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Has social media ruined the consultation process?
Regulators, be thankful you don’t find yourself in the situation Ofcom is currently in – working out how to deal with an unexpected deluge of responses to its latest consultation.100,000 calls to...
View Article5G or not 5G?
This is how these things work, PolicyTracker is told. And by all accounts Release 15 is shaping up to be a milestone release that will include specifications on mmWave and sub-6 GHz, even if...
View ArticleDoes competition require equal shares of spectrum?
PolicyTracker has heard that regulatory affairs departments of mobile operators are increasingly being seen by boards as income generators rather than cost centres. Naturally, they have always existed...
View ArticleSpectrum wars 2.0
In the same way that warfare has supposedly, for lack of a better word, “evolved” over time from the wholesale conquering of an enemy’s territory into a more targeted and strategic business, the battle...
View ArticleMake your mind up time
Seriously now: are we facing an imminent lack of spectrum due to exponential data demand or are we not? Answers, please, in the context of the European Parliament confirming the timetable for the...
View ArticleWhat is really holding back “5G” in Europe?
The GSMA and ETNO have called on legislators yet again to ditch their “grim” approach to the 5G vision, as if having concerns about one-size fits all licence terms, pushy auction planning rules and...
View ArticleInmarsat launch: regulatory fudge or technical triumph?
When the Commission tried to encourage a pan-European paging market by setting aside the 169.4-169.8 MHz under the European Radio Messaging System, or ERMES, how could they have known that SMS was...
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