UK Spectrum Policy Forum Plenary meeting – 10 April 2014 Tony Lavender, CEO, Plum Consulting Cluster 3: value of spectrum See more at: http://www.techuk.org/about/uk-spectrum-policy-forum All rights reserved

1. Cluster 3
Tony Lavender
10th April 2014

2. Cluster 3 –Value of spectrum
 The DCMS Spectrum Strategy “Seeks to elicit the best economic and social
value for the UK from spectrum”
・ Value to users of spectrum
・ Broader value to society (harder to capture)
 Having a consistent way of dealing with value will be an essential part of the
decision making process for efficient allocation/assignment and use
 Government’s goal is to apply the same principles for valuing spectrum use
across all sectors – all use (private sector and public sector ) of spectrum must be
considered
 A panel of experts is being set up under DCMS leadership to advise on options for
assessing the full value of spectrum to the UK – conclusions to be published by
July 2015
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See paras 2.14 to 2.34 of the UK Spectrum Strategy

3. Role of Cluster 3
 The role of Cluster 3 is not to solve the problem (at least not yet!) – it’s a contributor to
the Forum and to the DCMS process
 It provides a route to deliver knowledge and expertise
・ It allows the views of users to be fed in to DCMS and the expert panel
 It is important that the Cluster 3 kick off happens fairly quickly as the DCMS work will
most likely start in May – the kick off meeting for Cluster 3 is scheduled for 8th May
 The current version of the Scoping Document requires the Forum to “Collate existing
study data on the economic and social value of spectrum and the evolving demand for
spectrum” by May 2014
・ Clearly it will take a little longer to do this but the signal for the first activity of Cluster
3 is clear
 Subsequent activity of Cluster 3 be supportive of the work of the Forum and the Expert
Panel activity on value
・ Look at more specific issues and methodology
・ The treatment of applications and sectors
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4. Kick off meeting (8th May at techUK)
 Develop a more detailed work plan for the cluster
 Start the activity of collating existing information
・ Results of existing studies and their methodology
・ Academic work
・ Other material published by Governments/Regulators
・ Any opinions/new ideas
 Need to set a realistic time for this and then the collation and synthesis
・ Given the cluster will mainly work by correspondence this could take up to six
weeks – so aim to submit to the Forum and to the Expert Panel by early July
 Kick off meeting can decide whether another meeting of the cluster is required
before early July
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5. In conclusion
 This is not an easy topic to address – but it is one that absolutely has to be
addressed
・ If you have the required expertise please contribute or if you know someone
who does point them in the right direction!
 Input needs to come from all uses of spectrum public and private
 It is important that the existence of objectives (use of spectrum to double its
annual contribution to the economy by 2025) doesn’t become mixed up with the
matter being addressed here
 Neither must concepts of value and price become mixed up in this work
 Looking forward to your support
© Plum 2014 4