theibcdaily executive summary 27 The fight for spectrum
“This is not just a spectrum debate, but asking where do you draw the boundaries in spectrum?”
No turning back D
r Mike Short is supremely
qualified to fight his industry’s corner in any spectrum
discussion. His role as Telefónica’s VP of public affairs was recognised recently with the award of a CBE in HM the Queen’s Birthday Honours. But get him talking about
bandwidth, and the seemingly never-ending demand from the telephone industry for more spectrum, and his first response is that the group holding the most spectrum is generally the military!
His IBC session looked at the
future for broadcast spectrum, and one of his fellow panellists called for a moratorium on further TV frequency sales. Short politely disagrees. “I respect that some markets might have very different problems, but I would argue that we all need to find new ways of serving customers in a better way, wherever we are. We are in a data-hungry world, and it is impossible for the ITU or any of us to turn the clock back. “We all understand telcos and their one-to-one services, and broadcasters as being one- to-many. But what is actually happening is that the internet, and its OTT services, is delivering more and more content down our pipes. “What we are going to see in
the future is a different blend of one-to-many, but this will take some time to work through. Vodafone in the UK is going to be carrying Sky Sports on its 4G service as a key differentiator with rivals. I work
for O2 in the UK, and I expect people will look for all sorts of differentiators from their mobile suppliers just to make a market, and content is part of that. BT is doing its bit in creating a very tangible alternative to Sky. In other words, this is not just a spectrum debate, but asking where do you draw the boundaries in spectrum? It is a debate about creating a market where different offerings can appeal to different people, and then it comes down to consumer choice. “One thing I am sure of is that the new high-efficiency codecs as well as the proliferation of content means that consumers can access more and more on their smart phones and tablets. For many customers these are very relevant services. I am not sure that many telcos want to be content producers, or broadcasters. So there is still plenty of room in the world for broadcasters to do what they’re best at.
“But there’s one area where
Europe needs to think again, and that’s on the proliferation of suppliers. The US has just four wireless suppliers. Europe is in a situation where each country has four suppliers! We need to see a great deal more consolidation by operators, leading to greater economies of scale. This duplication [of operators] isn’t good for the consumer, and some smaller operators cannot match the levels of service or even the levels of technology that are now available. Big players will need to get bigger and greater competition will benefit the consumer.”
Dr Mike Short CBE
VP of Public Affairs, Telefónica Region: Europe
Interview by Chris Forrester
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