Who should get digital dividend spectrum?
When South Africa moves from analogue to digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcasting, a significant amount of spectrum will become available; spectrum which mobile broadband operators could use to roll out services.
This spectrum is called the “digital dividend” by organisations such as the ITU and industry players alike.
There are a number of players interested in obtaining a slice of the digital dividend, including terrestrial broadcasters and mobile network operators.
Speaking at a round table discussion with the South African technology media, special government adviser for the GSM Association (GSMA), Ross Bateson, said that the debate around who should be allocated spectrum in the digital dividend seemed to be in favour of mobile broadband operators, but is still ongoing.
The issue of broadcasters versus broadband aside, Bateson said that the choice of operators that are licensed to use digital dividend spectrum is also an important one.
Bateson said that it was stated at a recent ICASA workshop that there are 300 potential applicants to future spectrum licenses. Of these possible licensees, only a small handful have the capability and finance to roll out a fully-fledged mobile broadband network. Bateson said that he would be surprised if there were 30 applicants with the means to achieve this.
“It would be a crying shame to have people sit on digital dividend spectrum for two years and not use it,” said Bateson, citing the 50 MHz of spectrum Sentech is licensed to use in the 2.5 GHz band.
According to Bateson, existing mobile phone operators will make the best use of the spectrum in the fastest time. A possible consideration is the promotion of further competition in the mobile broadband space, Bateson said, but adding that the South African market has become quite competitive.
Bateson noted that no European market has more than five players, despite often having a larger mobile broadband market than in South Africa. Many European countries have four operators, similar to South Africa.
If it is decided that there is not enough competition, Bateson added, the licensing of the new operator is something that needs to be considered carefully. Providing a new operator with a license for one piece of spectrum (or paired spectrum) isn’t enough, as mobile operators need a portfolio of spectrum to roll out a network.
However, the licensing of digital dividend spectrum can only be done once the migration from analogue to digital television broadcasting is completed.
Progress towards DTT is still slow, Bateson said, adding that the South African Department of Communications’ (DoC) deadline of December 2013 is an ambitious one, as such migrations have taken far longer in many European nations.
Who should get digital dividend spectrum? << Comments and views
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