Ofcom to undertake a Strategic Review of Digital Communications

Ofcom, the Super Regulator, is holding a Strategic Review of Digital Communications to promote competition and investment in converged digital communications services.

This is mainly concerned with infrastructure services such as broadband, but will also cover mobile 4G and future 5G services and "over-the-top" services (i.e. services deliver on top of Internet services such as VoIP, messaging systems such as WhatsApp which is replacing SMS, etc).

Ofcom last held a review 10 years ago after BT's infrastructure operation was separated into a distinct entity (BT Openreach, though still part of BT Group).

There have been many changes since the last review such as the merger of T-Mobile and Orange into EE (which has subsequently been purchased by BT) and consolidation in the ISP market (02, Tiscali, AOL, Be, Easynet).

Since 2005

• broadband adoption has increased from 31% to 78%
• take-up of bundled services has risen from 29% in 2005 to 63% today
• significant commercial and public sector investment in superfast broadband has resulted in 78% availability five years after deployment started. Adoption of this new service is now 27%
• mobile broadband availability has increased significantly, with 3G increasing from 82% to 99% of premises, and 4G services available to 73% of premises. Mobile broadband take-up is now 67%
• new entrants have shown strong growth in some areas (for example, local loop unbundling now accounts for 44% of broadband connections, up from 17% in 2005)

While Ofcom can not predict the overall output it will likely encompass

• Efficient investment: How can incentives for efficient private sector investment and innovation be maintained and strengthened, to ensure widespread availability and high quality of service?
• Competition: What should be the focus of competition policy in future networks (the 'enduring economic bottlenecks')?
• Deregulation: What is the scope for deregulating networks and services downstream of any 'enduring bottlenecks'?

Ofcom is planning to complete the review by Summer of 2015.

Ofcom makes more spectrum license exempt

Ofcom, the Super regulator that looks after radio spectrum amongst other things, has made more spectrum license exempt.

In the UK there is no such thing as unlicensed spectrum and all devices (whether they broadcast or receive radio transmissions) must be covered by a license as per the Wireless Telegraphy Act. Ofcom can issue a Standard Instrument (really an Act of Parliament) to cover certain frequency bands and uses making that spectrum license exempt, which means if the equipment is used as per the SI, it doesn't need a specific license.

Ofcom has made new spectrum available for SRDs (short range devices) such as range finding equipment for cars. There is now 5MHz of spectrum available between 10.575 to 10.6 GHz which will add to the existing range of 10.577 to 10.597 GHz and this came into force on 26th June 2013.

The existing band 10.675 to 10.699 GHz can continue to be used by existing systems, but it will be closed for new systems on 30 December 2014 giving manufacturers 18 months to switch to the new band.

Mobile terminal handsets using WiMAX or LTE in the 800MHz, 2011MHz and 2.6GHz bands will be license exempt (when connected to a licensed mobile network i.e. BT, EE, 3UK, O2 or Vodafone).

Various satellite terminals will also be license exempt in the 1518 to 1525 MHz, 1525 MHz to 1559 MHz, 1626.5 MHz to 1660.5 MHz and 1670 to 1675 MHz bands.

Ofcom announces bidders for 800MHz and 2.6GHz auctions

Ofcom the super regulator that covers amongst other things radio spectrum has announced the bidders that have been accepted for the 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum auctions (a total of 250MHz is being made available). The details of who is bidding for what has not been made available.

Each of the following paid a £100,000 deposit and the actual auction will take place in early 2013.

• Everything Everywhere Limited (UK)
• HKT (UK) Company Limited (a subsidiary of PCCW Limited)
• Hutchison 3G UK Limited
• MLL Telecom Ltd
• Niche Spectrum Ventures Limited (a subsidiary of BT Group plc)
• Telefónica UK Limited
• Vodafone Limited

The four existing mobile network operators (MNOs) EE, 3UK, O2 (Telefonica) and Vodafone were expected to bid and will probably bid for the 800MHz spectrum.

BT was a preferred outsider and will probably be bidding for 2.6GHz spectrum.

HKT's parent PCCW already has a nationwide 3.4GHz license (but it's a weird LTE band) but they have launched an LTE-TD wholesale service in the London area, so they may well bid for 2.6GHz spectrum as at least this is a common worldwide LTE band.

MLL already have a low power GSM license and also will probably have bid for a 2.6GHz license, especially as they are developing their own LTE stack (via a 3rd party).

Next year Ofcom will announce which bidders bid for what spectrum.

Street Cabinets, a fuss about nothing

There's been a lot of noise recently about the Government passing a new law that will speed-up street cabinet installs as Telecoms companies no longer need to go through the process of applying for planning permission (recently the London Borough of Chelsea and Kensington refused planning permission for around 96 or 108 application from BT to install new cabinets that would support its high speed fibre Infinity service).

Though planning was refused, BT do have a process whereby they can over-ride planning permission as they have what's know as 'code powers' (this name derives from when the UK had a Telecoms Act and having code powers granted the right to have telephone numbers as well as build street works, much of the old Telecoms Act regulatory environment has been surpassed by the Communications Act, but code powers has retained its name).

Any Communications Provider (as defined by the Communications Act) can apply to Ofcom for code powers which then gives them the right to dig roads, build street furniture etc.

So though the framework already exists, this just allows things to move slightly faster as BT and others can now just install standard sized street cabinets.

BT Openreach to target MDU for FTTP

BT Openreach is targeting multiple domicile units (i.e. blocks of flats) for it fiber-to-the-premises service.

It has targeted 1,000 MDUs in the footprint of it's rollout area. Customers can expect speeds now of 100Mb/s with 300Mb/s in the near future.

Currently residents of Canary Wharf are being asked if they wish to participate in the trial.

BT and EE launch LTE trial (in Cornwall)

BT Wholesale and Everything Everywhere have launched a trial of LTE (long term evolution or 4G) services running in Cornwall.

The trial will support 200 users split between mobile and fixed users in an area where fixed broadband is currently unavailable.

The trial uses equipment form the Chinese vendor Huawei and will run until next year.

Cornwall is a convenient area to run these kinds of trial as there is poor fixed line coverage, the conversion from analogue to digital TV has already taken place (so the 800MHz spectrum is available) and even if they get a few things wrong, there's no one to interfere with anyway.

As a shared trial, BT and EE will be ensuring the equipment can share access to the two seperate networks.

Ofcom reduces BT's wholesale broadband charges

Ofcom the super regulator today has published a statement which means that BT will have to drop its wholesale broadband prices by 12% below inflation where they are the only broadband provider. Ofcom believes this will lead to better competition as resellers can provide a better quality of service.

The price controls come into effect on 17th August 2011 and remain in effect until March 2012.

Ofcom also published a statement on charge controls for 08 and 09 number ranges as BT has significant market power for call origination and also number translation services.

BT Whitespace spectrum trials "encouraging"

Spectrum is a valuable commodity and in the UK it's pretty well all allocated (well there are certain bands that are hopefully going to be auctioned soon). It's either been taken up by (mainly) the MOD, commercial TV/radio, mobile and even some space for public use like the 2.4GHz band which is used by WiFi.

The lower the frequency of the radio wave, the better propogation characteristics it has (i.e. it travels further in air and penetrates buildings well) so even though higher frequencies can carry more data, it can be hard to get the signal to users without building very dense radio networks so the signals don't have to travel very far.

Current analogue TV uses the 800MHz band which obviously has very good propogation characteristics as pretty well anyone in the UK can receive an analogue TV signal. During 2012 all analogue transmitters will be turned off and everything migrated to digital.

Therefore there's a lot of interest in using these lower frequency bands for wireless broadband for remote areas as a single big transmitter can be dumped into the middle of the remote area and it connected back to civilisation, but everyone in the area will be able to get a signal from it - i.e. they'll be able to get a broadband connection.

This is a very attractive proposition, except for the fact that frequencies in the range of 400 - 800MHz are currently being used or have planned use which slightly scuppers its use for broadband.

BT are trialing a system known as white space transmission and it's really quite clever. The transmitting and receiving systems listen to the relevant bands that they want to use and only pick sub-bands that aren't already being used. Since modern radio equipment can be very selective and use specific frequencies, there's actually a lot of white space spectrum around (older radio systems were noisy and though bands were allocated, there are always gap-bands in between so that the real radio bands wouldn't "bleed" into each other causing interference - those gap bands contain valauable - now usable - spectrum). Also not all areas use all the sub-bands. The trials are being conducted on the (very) remote Scottish Island of Bute, so even if BT get things wrong, there's not going to be a lot of people to upset, but the trials are going well and BT is going extend to coverage to another 12 users July.

If the trials are successful this could offer a glimmer of hope in getting broadband to rural communities who are not going to be covered by BT or other operators fibre (or even 3G) roll-outs.

Everything Everywhere and BT trial LTE800

BT and Everything Everywhere are trailing LTE (Long Term Evolution or 4G) on the 800MHz band in Cornwall. 100 mobile and 100 fixed users will take place.

800MHz is part of the spectrum that Ofcom are planning to auction this year which will is currently being used by analogue TV, though some areas have already switched over to digital so the frequencies are already clear. The whole of the UK will switch by 2012.

The trial will actually use 2 x 10MHz channels in the upper band (which Ofcom are considering how to license) and though LTE can theoretically speeds of up to 150Mb/s, Everything Everywhere have stated that users should expect between 2 and 40Mb/s.

The 800Mhz band is being auction in conjunction with the 2.6GHz band (with caps depending on what portions are being bid for) and there is expected to be considerable interest from both the existing mobile network operators and broadband providers (some of who will be new entrants).

Ofcom proposes WBA charge controls

Ofcom the super regulator is holding a consultation on placing charge controls on BT for their Wholesale Broadband Access (WBA) services in areas where they are still a monopoly.

This should see price reductions to ISPs of between 10.75% and 14.75%. As part of the consultation Ofcom have also proposed changes to the cost of capital estimates for BT.

Stakeholders can respond on-line and the consultation closes on 31 March 2011 and Ofcom want to implement the changes after that.

BT rejects GPRS for meter reading

BT has plans to build a system that will allow companies to wirelessly read meters in tune with government recommendations.

BT is teaming up with Arqiva and consultancy Detica and plans to use US-based Sensus' FlexNet long range wireless solution that operates in the 400MHz band (which has good building penetration characteristics).

Unsurprisingly the UK mobile network operators aren't too pleased as the original plans were to use GPRS connectivity which would have meant at least 26m GPRS systems installed by 2020 which would be a massive boost to one or more of the networks.

BT may not be successful and another consortium may still win the contract.

T-Morange to build new network?

The new company that is the merged T-Mobile and Orange is thinking about building a brand new network in the UK. This will use equipment from Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei and will support the frequency range from 900MHz to 2.6GHz (2600MHz).

This will allow the company to take advantage of new or refarmed spectrum that may become available in 2012, it will also allow rapid roll-out of new services based on GSM, UMTS (3G) and LTE (4G).

Neither T-Mobile nor Orange have any spectrum in 900MHz, but they're lobbying Ofcom that Vodafone and O2 should give up some of their spectrum when GSM spectrum can be used for 3G services. Currently the combined spectrum that T-Mobile and Orange own exceeds the license limitations for any single operator.

Ofcom have not yet auctioned 2.6GHz which initially was reserved for IMT-2000 use (the technical name for 3G) and due to various legal issues brought against Ofcom by the mobile operators wont be available now until at least 2012. There's likely to be a lot of interest in this band as it offers the potential high data rates (there's 190MHz of spectrum available). It's likely BT will bid for it as they can use it for WiMAX or other wireless broadband technology in rural areas and 3G services in urban areas as they've wanted to offer business mobile services for a while.

2.6GHz Spectrum Auction delayed until 2011

2.6GHz was going to be the figurehead of Ofcom's spectrum auction policy. It would be auctioned on a technology neutral basis with at least a national license allowing the possibility for innovative new 3G services, LTE or even WiMAX (i.e. a technology neutral basis). Ofcom would be the regulator that other countries would strive to follow. This was all going to happen in 2007.

The 2.6GHz band was originally allocated as a IMT-2000 (i.e. 3G) 'expansion band' and Ofcom might have allocated it to a 6th operator had the 5th 3G operator (i.e 3) failed.

Unfortunately things didn't go to plan and T-Mobile and O2 (both UK bits) challenged Ofcom that a realistic price could not be set unless Ofcom determined what would happen with GSM spectrum refarming (the current licenses only allow 900MHz to be used for GSM, the GSM operators wan to use it for 3G and the PCN operators i.e. Orange and T-Mobile think they should get some of it). The situation is further muddied as the MNO's with 900MHz spectrum say they should have access to 800MHz spectrum if they give up some of their valuable 900MHz. The reason 900MHz (and 800Mhz which is currently analogue TV) is so valuable is that it has very good transmission characteristics and goes into buildings well, while 1.8GHz (PCN) and more so 2.1GHz (3G) radio signals tend to get absorbed by concrete etc.

The situation has subsequently got even more complicated with the proposed merger of Orange and T-Mobile which would break existing spectrum caps.

BT are also interested in the 2.6GHz band as they could deploy WiMAX in rural areas and 3G services in urban areas. The WiMAX service would allow them to provide high speed broadband connections to communities where fibre/VDSL wont reach and in urban areas where they have good broadband coverage, they could offer their own 3G services to compete in the mobile business markets.

It was hoped that the auction would take in 2010, but now it seems 2011 is the earliest possible date and Ofcom still have a lot of mess to clear-up.

BT extends FTTP

BT Openreach has said they are now extending their FTTP (fibre to the premises) roll-out and will cover brownfield as well as greenfield areas. Originally FTTP was only planned for greenfield/new build areas.

This will greatly extend the number of homes covered by FTTP and offer speeds of around 100Mb/s, BT's FTTC (fibre to the street Cabinet) are offering around 40Mb/s using VDSL2+.

This is probably a preemptive move to frighten the various other players who may be considering fibre roll-outs such as BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse.

Google Voice now berry'd up

Google has released a Blackberry verison of the Google Voice application so it's now available on Blackberry phones as well as Android phones. Unfortunately Google Voice is still only available to Google users in the US (or who have registered with a US Google Mail account etc).

Google are rumoured be to be in talks with a German company who will provide them with infrastructure in Europe (including the UK).

When Google do launch in Europe the new VoIP entrants have the most to lose and some must already be worried. BT will still win as they own 85% of the infrastructure into premises and until there's fibre services rolled out from alternate carriers they still provide the last mile (and much of the backhaul).

Phorm given the boot

Following on the BT's announcement that they were delaying the implementation of Phorm the targeted advertising system, TalkTalk announced they were dropping it all together. Virgin Media is considering Phorm and other systems but has not yet decided on a system to install. Phorm's share price fell 20 201p on the news.

Phorm works by snooping users' traffic and working out what sites they visit, then delivering targeted ads to those users based on their viewing habits. Phorm purchase they advertising space on remote sites and insert their ads.

Phorm has been criticised from privacy groups and there has been a bit of a public backlash.

Phorm is now concentrating on other markets such as Korea where it says trials are going well.

UK users may breath a sigh of relief, at least for a while in terms of Phorm.

BT to fibre the UK (well bits)

BT has said it will spend £3bn to get fibre to 10m homes (that's about 40% of the homes in the UK) and it will only cover urban areas, rural areas will have to stick with copper.

BT are already spending £10bn on their 21CN, so that's £13bn ... not just a little spend.

The fibre upgrade works out at £300 per home (which doesn't seem that much on a per household basis).

Their reasoning is to deliver IPTV and other services and it is entirely possible that a household could spend more than £300 to get HDTV and VoD services.

BT invests in FON

BT has invested in the Spanish company FON. BT state this is to increase wireless coverage, but it could also be a way to increase use of their Fusion packages which haven't really taken off in a big way (Fusion is BT's converged mobile service which allows a mobile phone to roam on to a [Bluetooth in a home environment] WiFi gateway).

FON sells or gives away WiFi access points preconfigured to work with FON and these allow the user to set-up whether they'll give free or charged access to their broadband services.

BT charge ISPs for terminating users

Normally when a user gets ADSL, there are charges to set-up the line. That could be through BT Wholesale or via an LLU (local loop unbundling) operator. Those charges may be hidden by the ISP/etc or built in to the set-up charge.

If a user then migrates to another operator, that's fine too.

However if a user happens to cancel their PSTN service, say they move house, the ISP may be charged £33 for the "cease" request even though they've got no control of the user.

There must be a sensible rational behind it somewhere.

BT kill broadband, then phone

Last week my ADSL died for no apparent reason. I use a non-BT ISP so had to go through them to get it fixed.

Eventually BT agreed to investigate and an engineer was booked for Saturday. At 11.20 I got a call that they were on the way to the premises and would be there in 20 minutes. By the time I got back they'd left a message to say the problem was fixed. Unfortunately it wasn't and now as well as the ADSL not working, they'd killed the phone line too.

Of course I couldn't report the ADSL to BT as I had to go through my ISP, so I did and the line now clearly showed a fault.

However as the voice line was also dead I could use BT's automated system and it did indeed notice an exchange fault.

I went out and returned about 4pm and there was an engineer checking the junction box. He was just about to go (not his fault). He then fitted a tone generator to the master socket and went off to trace the line. On his return hw said "the last engineer cut the lines in the street cabinet", how that meant they've fixed the line I've no idea.

Anyway the 2nd engineer put it all back and everything sprung back to life.

Being without ADSL for a week was painfull.