This week Ofcom, the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK’s communications industry,raised £2.3bn by selling mobile phone licences for the 4G mobile spectrum. 4G is the fourth generation of mobile phone technology and follows on from 2G (calls and texts) and 3G (calls, texts and mobile internet). 4G services should make it much quicker for individuals to surf the web on their mobile phones, tablets and laptops, with download speeds expected to be closer to levels that people currently experience with home broadband.
Seven companies competed for 28 lots of spectrum in two separate bands – 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz. This combination of low and high frequency bands creates the potential for 4G mobile broadband services to be widely available across the UK, while offering capacity to cope with significant demand in urban centres. The five successful companies granted licences were Vodafone, Everything Everywhere (EE), Hutchinson 3G, Telefonica (O2) and Niche Spectrum Ventures, a subsidiary company of BT.
One of the deal obligations that Ofcom attached to one of the licences secured by Telefonica, was that the operator must provide mobile broadband services for indoor reception to at least 95% of the Welsh population by 2017 and outdoor coverage to 98-99% of the population.
However, Montgomeryshire Assembly Member, Russell George, who is also the Chairman of the Assembly’s Cross-Party Group on Digital Communications, said while an upgrade of service levels would be welcome, it was important not to overlook the fact that many areas of rural Mid Wales still struggled to obtain any mobile coverage. He said it was therefore vital that further mobile infrastructure development took place alongside the 4G roll-out programme, so that the majority of Powys residents would benefit from the new technology.
Commenting, Mr George said:
"With 4G services currently available in Cardiff and soon to be rolled out in Newport, people in Powys are asking me when they will have the same services.
"The conclusion of the auction means that wider service development can now start.
"However, like broadband coverage, I am concerned about the rurality aspect of 4G coverage, particularly when so many in rural Mid Wales still struggle to receive any mobile coverage, let alone current 3G technology.
"While Ofcom believes 4G will help improve mobile coverage to rural ‘not-spots’, there will be a continued need for other solutions using mobile technology to plug those potential gaps.
"The obligations on Telefonica’s licence are of course important but without additional mobile infrastructure, I’m worried that many Powys residents will simply not benefit from this new technology at all."