So is the fear of TV players such as BBC, ITV and Channel 4, as the telecom regulatory body Ofcom released details of how the lucrative auction would go. Among the major uses that it outlines includes mobile TV. The TV players want the spectrum for HD channels that they want to broadcast through the “Freeview” platform, and asked Ofcom to give a guaranteed spectrum. Instead Ofcom is going ahead with the auction route, which the wealthy mobile operators would have a good chance on outbidding others, so the theory goes.
“Consumers place less importance on the availability of HDTV services than they do on increased choice of channels on the digital terrestrial television platform,” Ofcom said in its report. The exec summary of the long report is here.
AFX: It will be up to bidders to decide what service to transmit over their spectrum, which will be trade-able and be used for a number of services. Previous spectrum auctions have restricted what services could be offered. Mobile phone operators, such as Vodafone and Telefonica’s O2, have argued that they should be allowed to put spectrum they have already paid for to alternative uses.
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