Being a long way shy of the £22bn that was raised from the 3G auction in 2000 Ofcom have already suggested that maximising the size of the auction was not the objective set by the government. The shortfall does have political implications though, as Chancellor George Osborne had included £3.5bn worth of 4G auction receipts in his Autumn Statement last December.
Tim Douthwaite, head of mobile sales for Pall Mall and Coventry based Telecommunications Company Ardencom says, “Countries such as USA, Sweden, Hong Kong, Denmark, Canada, South Korea and Germany already have 4G. Although the USA were the first and biggest to roll it out, Sweden has the fastest average speed download of 22MB. We need 4G to compete in the global market place, the boat is in the harbour and about to set sail, and it’s great that we are now on board.”
Tim assesses that in business terms he doubts that emails, contacts, calendar, tasks, notes or presence will appear to be faster. Although, when browsing or accessing VPN and utilising third party applications, there will be a considerable improvement. He also says it is good news for those living or working at the end of a country lane without 3G and only two bits of rusty copper wire for comfort. The greater reach of 4G will be very good news for major network users.
As far as benefits for the network providers – did they get value for money? Tim is of the opinion that the increases in data use that 4G will bring, will boost revenue and in turn, through taxes, bring in more for HMRC. So it may not be all bad news for the government in the long term.