Broadband News

Mobile broadband has turned out to be a contentious issue since the publication of Lord Carter’s Digital Britain report. While many broadband experts and campaigners claimed there was too much of a reliance on wireless, Julian McGougan from Arquiva claims there was not nearly enough.

The company is the country’s largest independent provider of mobile cell towers sites and provides television mast sites for all terrestrial television broadcast in the UK. Hence it may come as little surprise that, as its Head of Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs, Julian McGougan believes that the government missed an opportunity to get behind mobile. Compared to the huge attention given to the 50p copper phone line levy and use of savings in the digital television switchover budget to bridge not-spots, he was disappointed that there was, in his opinion, very little mention of mobile.

“You could be forgiven after reading the report for thinking that mobile broadband doesn’t exist; it hardly get a mention,” McGougan claims.

“To me the report ignored the advantage that wireless has to offer, there was such a lack of emphasis on mobile, it was really surprising.”

If not mobile, what?

Those who take the opposite view from McGougan, and  believe the government is relying too heavily on mobile broadband, point to several perceived flaws. Namely, the operators will pick out the most lucrative areas first and the technology will not provide fast access to far flung communities who need it most.

However, McGougan thinks they, and the government, are missing a crucial point about mobile broadband being in a better position to offer the revised universal service obligation.

“The target for 2Mb seems to have been brought forward to 2012 and so it’s pretty challenging,” he says.

“I’d imagine the government grants that will be made possible through the copper levy and a digital switchover underspend will not be available in large quantities much before 2012 to help new build projects.

“So my main question is if you want to roll out 2Mb to everyone, how else, other than mobile are you going to do it.”

Other than questioning the capability for fixed line telephony to bring 2Mb access to the most rural communities, he believes that a blindingly obvious benefit of mobile has been overlooked.

“We already have a wide infrastructure for the mobile operators to use and I don’t think you would need many more mast sites to offer 2Mb,” he says.

“My one big question to the government has to be. If you want to get 2Mb out there, how else are you going to do it? Mobile doesn’t need roads to be dug up and it doesn’t need permission for pipes to be laid underground for a huge variety of land owners.

“If you want to get 2Mb access out there and you want to do it quickly, in time for 2012, I really can’t see what other serious option there is.”

Certainty is needed

In fact, according to McGougan, the only thing holding back the mobile broadband industry is lack of clarity of what is happening with 800Mhz spectrum released when analogue television is switched off in 2012.

“What the mobile industry needs is certainty because there’s far too much uncertainty now for companies to commit to the huge amount of investment required to push out mobile broadband services,” he says.

“We’ve already had two consultations and the government’s got Kip Meek in to have a go at working out a solution between the government and the operators, and that hasn’t worked out yet. No operator can do a thing until these issues are sorted.

“The government could really take a lead by releasing the spectrum and then insisting that rural areas are prioritised by insisting a percentage of geographical areas are covered by 2012.”

When this uncertainty is eventually ended McGougan contends that the requirement for new cell sites has been exaggerated and that by using radio towers used by other parties, such as the emergency services, mobile broadband can be pushed out using, in the main, existing infrastructure.