OfcomWatch friend, David Brunnen of groupe intellex, alerted us to his recent article entitled ‘Is Ofcom on the right wavelength?’ It’s a useful assessment, from a strategic perspective, of where Ofcom stands with respect to its plans for the U.K.’s usage of the radio spectrum resource.

Some nuggets:

For many players pan-European scope is an essential key to a sufficiently large market and justification of investment in innovative services - especially as wireless communications markets become increasingly in need of niche services rather thangeneric solutions.

So if [technological] neutrality - a regulatory disinterest in effective utilisation - is the new order, can Ofcom deliver it? Close inspection of the fineprint reveals the answer to be ‘not quite’ or at least ‘not yet’. For some of the currently unused and wasted spectrum that Ofcomwould like to sell off, the legacy of 3G lingers on with requirements on potential new users to make it look a bit like 3G withidentical channelisation and spectral masks -�to respect� the prevailing international conditions. Will this be a stumbling block to true innovation?

Delivering certainty is yet another part of Ofcom�s credo but speculation about future licence conditions abound. If we assume thatOfcom is serious about delivering innovation then it must guard against anti-competitive spectrum hoarding. This leads towardsthe imposition of �use it or lose it� conditions whereas Ofcom�s deep-rooted enthusiasm for spectrum trading would naturally arguefor the free-est of free-market deregulation.

Stay tuned, folks …