Afke Schaart, Vice President Europe, GSMA, made the case for greater spectrum harmonisation in Europe at the High Level Dialogue on spectrum-related issues, organised by the European Commission on 3 February. One day before the event, the European Commission published its proposals on how to coordinate the use of the 700 MHz band for mobile services. This decision is a first concrete step to support the delivery of innovative and cutting-edge tech and telecoms services to European consumers and businesses ahead of the Telecoms Regulatory Framework review.
Speaking at the event, Afke Schaart argued for greater coordination of spectrum policies by presenting the findings of a recent GSMA study, Socio-economic benefits of greater spectrum policy harmonization in the EU, which found that:
• Citizens benefit when Member States license 800MHz spectrum. In European countries that were slow to make the 800MHz spectrum available for mobile broadband, 4G coverage and penetration has been delayed, even where other bands were available. Consumers in “first mover” countries had earlier access to the higher speeds and larger data allowances made possible by 4G, facilitating the consumption of advanced digital services and applications.
• Unsynchronised releases negatively impact residents of “first mover” countries. Consumers in “first mover” countries have had to cope with the problems caused by a lack of scale and interferences in border regions. Some of the most attractive handsets did not support the 800MHz band because manufacturers were uncertain about when the frequency would be released in some large European markets. Moreover, coverage and network quality in border regions suffered because operators could not use the 800MHz band due to interference from DTT networks in neighbouring countries that had not made the band available for mobile broadband.
• Poor auction design leads to inefficient outcomes and rollout delays. Certain countries lacked the expertise or support to properly design an efficient auction, leading unnecessarily to years of delay in the award of frequencies and the deployment of 4G networks.
• Longer license duration provides greater certainty for network investment. Operators can’t invest in network upgrades if the license term expires before these investments can be recouped. Further upgrades and future investments in 5G will be difficult to justify if the current licence expires in just a few years and there is no certainty of renewal.
• Excessive spectrum pricing leads to lower 4G connections and less coverage. At a time of liquidity constraints, excessive spectrum prices crowd out network investments, impacting coverage and connectivity quality for consumers.