I thought I would start sampling some of the 600+ responses to Ofcom’s digital dividend review (DDR) consultation. Today, I’ll start with the mobile telephony firm Vodafone. Vodafone’s response is here. [9-page .pdf]

Vodafone appears to be primarily concerned with technical and legal issues associated with the co-existence of DTT and mobile broadband systems. They write:

The third condition, which Ofcom does not address in any detail in its proposals, concerns the lack of viability of mobile broadband in non-UK markets under Ofcom’s proposals and the consequent lack of scale for such technologies within the UK as well as outside it. The reason for this is that the UK is unique, so far as Vodafone is aware, in having obtained rights at the RRC 06 which resulted in a significant allocation of cleared spectrum which could accommodate mobile broadband systems. Most if not all other European administrations have agreed to Digital Plans which do not release any cleared sub-bands of spectrum and which therefore consist principally of interleaved spectrum suitable only for broadcast applications. There is therefore no immediate prospect of spectrum that is in any sense harmonized across the EU being made available (whether it is harmonized with the cleared spectrum which Ofcom proposes to make available in the UK or with some other sub-band).

Vodafone continues:

Ofcom is right to suppose that this does not impose a legal constraint directly upon the UK. Nor does it prevent the development of a UK-only mobile broadband system. But in practice the absence of any harmonized sub-band on an EU-wide basis represents a formidable obstacle to mobile broadband within the UK and therefore to Ofcom’s plans for the Digital Dividend.

Vodafone raises the notion of ‘harmonised flexibility’ (sounds like a marriage counseling technique) which means that regulators ensure a minimum amount of similar spectrum is made available across borders at roughly the same time.

Vodafone’s submission is well-written and certainly makes sense, but it appears internally inconsistent: praising Ofcom for its market-led principled approach on the one hand, but asserting on the other hand that more (coordinating) regulatory work is necessary to prepare the Digital Dividend for Vodafone’s preferred use.

Stay tuned…