CWU welcomes funding for mobile ‘not spots’ and urges re-investment of 4G spectrum revenue
16th November 2011
The CWU has broadly welcomed the Government's announcement last month that it is to provide an additional £150 million to improve mobile phone coverage in the UK.
The commitment, unveiled by Chancellor George Osborne, is aimed
at filling in 'not-spots' in national 2G mobile coverage by
way of the erection of new mobile masts, raising coverage to 99% of
the country.
In response to a Parliamentary question from Labour MP Huw Irranca-Davies, Culture Minister Ed Vaizey confirmed on Monday that, while no decision on the location of the new masts have yet been made, "consideration will be given to the requirements of hosting other technologies such as 3G to improve the coverage of that technology too."
Mr Vaizey continued: "Looking further in to the future we envisage that 4G could be hosted on the new structures as well."
Commenting on the announcement, CWU deputy general
secretary, Andy Kerr welcomed the move as a way of
helping to improve access to broadband services for remote areas,
saying "Following next year's 4G spectrum auction, mobile
broadband promises to play an important role in bringing reliable
2mpbs broadband services to the final five to ten per cent of UK
homes and businesses where fixed solutions are not cost
efficient"
But Andy questioned why the £150million commitment was coming entirely out of the public purse, when under the CWU's proposal last year for a next generation broadband 'levy' on fixed and mobile providers - a levy that was initially put forward by the Labour government on fixed lines only - the cost would have been borne by the companies that stand to benefit commercially from the improved coverage.
"We still believe that the Coalition Government's decision to scrap Labour's plans for a levy was a serious mistake - and now, with Government money earmarked for this project, private companies will be reaping commercial benefits at the taxpayers' expense with no contribution from their customer base," said Andy.
Andy went on to say that a proportion of the £3-£5 billion expected to be raised by next year's 4G spectrum auction should be reinvested back into the UK's telecommunications infrastructure to help achieve the government's target of having the best broadband network in Europe by 2015. He also urged the government and Ofcom to ensure that the 4G spectrum auction goes ahead as early as possible so that the UK does not fall behind our global and European competitors, many of who have already rolled out 4G mobile networks.
