OECD - ComReg Workshop

Spectrum is a finite natural resource with both national and an international dimension. It is used to support a large number of electronic communications services and applications. Access to radio frequencies is an essential requirement for telecommunications, particularly for aviation, shipping, defence services, public safety, and broadcasting.

From a national perspective we need to ensure social and cultural interests are recognised and spectrum is used to support Ireland’s competitive and economic future. Accountability and transparency in use of spectrum is essential. Efficiency and effectiveness in the administration of spectrum allocation is critical. Areas of importance include the availability of spectrum for essential services and for enhanced public services.

For a number of sectors that depend on spectrum meeting social and cultural objectives the application of a market based approach raises concerns. Their emphasis on spectrum use is more on safety and service provision rather than the market orientated /economic approach used by the electronic communications sector.

Consequently it is important that adequate safeguards are included so that spectrum requirements for a wide variety of national policy objectives are meet.

One of the most significant users of both mobile and fixed link radio spectrum are mobile phone services which continue to expand, currently delivering services to over 3.5 million subscribers in Ireland. Wireless communications are also increasingly being used to provide broadband access to the Internet, e-mail and other on-line services bringing new services to consumers and enabling all the e-factors such as elearning and egovernment. Extending access to broadband and encouraging take-up are key aspects of government policy.

This is due to broadbands strategic importance in accelerating economic growth in all sectors.

In early May we commenced the rollout of infrastructure for a DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television) Pilot in Ireland. The Pilot is currently in the build phase and is expected to be operational by Autumn 2006. I am committed to ensuring that Ireland keeps pace with the high-tech developments in communications being implemented across the EU.

The Pilot should be seen as a precursor to a national rollout of DTT, which is a prerequisite for analogue switch-off and good spectrum planning for the future. In parallel with this Pilot, my Department is amending legislation to provide a framework for a national DTT service.

Economists believe that establishing a market for radio spectrum is the most efficient way to allocate the resource. Put please note economics is the only field in which two people can get a Nobel Prize for saying exactly the opposite thing! While technological improvements are taking place, we cannot know precisely which specific new technologies will prove to be most valuable.

If new technologies cannot find an efficient place in the spectrum or are not assigned any spectrum at all, there will be static losses of efficiencies. This may have a dampening effect on the whole incentive to innovate. This is a key point about spectrum: it is a tremendous natural resource. If not used properly it has the possibility of acting as a “bottleneck” inhibiting innovation and growth.

In the 21st century Ireland finds itself in an enviable position. We have a low population density with the majority of people living in a few urban areas making it very easy to cover more than 50% of the population with only a relatively few transmitter sites. We have only one neighbour across a land border and another across the Irish Sea.

This makes coordinating frequency use with neighbouring countries a lot easier than for example our German colleagues who have 10 neighbours that keep a team of engineers busy with co-ordination problems. We work closely with our counterparts in Northern Ireland and the UK on cross border issues. We have had recent success in reducing roaming charges which has gone some way to helping consumers who are caught by inadvertent roaming across the border.

In responding to a greater reliance on market forces, ComReg is moving, where appropriate, to the use of auctions to allocate some type spectrum rights. Last year ComReg licensed 3 new players in the market to provide wideband digital Mobile Services in non-harmonised spectrum.

This year ComReg plans to continue the trend by auctioning Irelands’ first service neutral and technology neutral licence in parallel with a similar award of spectrum in Northern Ireland by Ofcom in the UK. This will provide for the licensing of the same spectrum simultaneously on both sides of the border. The intention is that there will be a single operator licensed for this spectrum offering new services across the whole of the Island of Ireland.

In addition, Irelands’ test and trial regime is the first of its kind in the world. It allows any spectrum that is not already assigned to be used for the testing of equipment and the trialing of new services.

The ability to give researchers access to spectrum is a valuable tool. The intention is to attract investment as well as create opportunities for local companies. We have also broken the stagnation of the delivery of wireless broadband services by licensing small players on a base station by base station basis, another fairly unique method that we pioneered in Ireland. The Regulator is currently conducting a spectrum review to identify and make currently unused spectrum available for licensing in the next few years.

While initiatives from the European Commission to promote the use of market based approaches to spectrum management, more flexible use of spectrum and less regulatory intervention are welcome there is a need for Member States (MS) to retain appropriate control. Market forces alone should not determine how spectrum is used.

Ireland can support a move away from a rigid allocation of spectrum and move toward an approach that includes liberalisations and flexibility of spectrum use. In line with this policy, ComReg has proposed, in it’s Spectrum Strategy that sections of the Irish Radio Spectrum should be open to spectrum trading. It is currently reviewing how this could be implemented both in the short term and in the long term.

The Commission in promoting harmonisation of spectrum focuses on the use of spectrum from an EU wide perspective. Consequently there is a risk that a “one size fits all” approach may be created. There is need to recognise that markets across the EU are not homogeneous for the use of spectrum. The EU is made up of Member State markets, that vary in size, structure and service demands that depend on local conditions.

A “one fit all” approach is not suitable as this could result in an ineffective and inefficient use of spectrum at the national level. Member States should have flexibility in how they implement the overall policy in order to address local market requirements and ensure efficient and effective use of spectrum.

Following this years ITU Regional planning conference - currently in progress in Geneva the issue of the spectrum becoming available as a result of the digital switchover can be addressed fully. No doubt the proponents of the different uses will stress the importance for their particular application and this will lead to lengthy discussions in determining the best use for the spectrum dividend.

In this regard the recent resolution passed by the European Parliament in April gives important guidance where it states: “given the role of television in the global society, the technical and legislative options involved in the switchover must not be determined by the economic factors alone but must also take account of social cultural and political factors in order to safeguard among other things, the European public audiovisual sector.”

I thank you for this opportunity and wish you an engaging and enjoyable workshop on flexible spectrum use.

Thank you

ENDS