According to the Sixties puppet series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, in 2068 the future of the world will depend on an organisation called Spectrum. According to government regulator David Edmonds, by the end of 2003 the future of the telecoms and media industries will depend on an organisation called Ofcom, but spectrum will be the name of the game.
Edmonds, or Captain Scarlet, is director general of the telecoms watchdog Oftel. He will be joining with the heads of the Broadcasting Standards Commission, the Independent Television Commission, the Radio Authority and Radiocommunications Agency, captains Blue, Grey, Ochre and Magenta to help form the new body.
On Friday, they published a study on the future shape of Ofcom and the previous day, Edmonds set out his views before an Institute for Public Policy Research seminar. He explained the basis for the merger was convergence, with consumers using a variety of delivery methods in the future, from mobile phones to TV and the Internet, to access common content.
"Consumers will be indifferent between the different methods of delivery - the choice they make will be whatever is most convenient at the time. And regulation must reflect this," he said. Edmonds said spectrum trading was the key to rapid convergence. It could get rid of entry barriers and remove constraints on spectrum usage.
"Those with more spectrum than they need... including broadcasters, holding spectrum for public policy reasons, should be able to sell any surplus capacity to the highest bidder just as they would sell land or other assets for which others had more use," he said.
The government and the Radiocommunications agency are looking favourably at introducing spectrum trading, which could affect everyone from taxi firms to radio and TV companies and mobile phone operators.
Spectrum is a finite resource and is becoming "the single most valuable piece of property worth owning in the whole world," according to Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington.
Bruno Giussani, in his new book "Roam: Making sense of the wireless Internet" explains how the evil Mysteron aliens could take over the world if the distribution of spectrum is mishandled. In the U.S., an initiative is underway for broadcasters to be able to sell spectrum they currently lease from the government into secondary markets. This could pave the way for freehold sell-offs of the spectrum to the private sector.
Giussani and Rifkin point out the eventual outcome could be global media corporations controlling the radio frequencies of the planet and endangering everyone's right to free speech.
In the UK, the government will perhaps allow sub-letting of frequencies to foster the rapid development of new services. This could help companies such as Orange, Vodafone and BT who feel they have been made to pay too much for 3G licences. But it is more likely to mean new companies emerging out of the dead airwaves of existing spectrum licence owners.
(Copyright FT Marketwatch 2001)
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