There is technology agnostic spectrum and there is technology agnostic spectrum. The European 3G band was billed as “technology agnostic,” but it turned out there was a catch: bidders were required to select their technology in advance. This regulatory sleight-of-hand assured that bidders would choose the only technology perceived as safe.

The plan to auction hundreds of MHz is what’s most interesting. Previous auctions on both sides of the Atlantic were arguably designed to maximize revenue by combining auctions with artificially-created shortages. Auctioning hundreds of MHz should help achieve the original auction goal: distributing spectrum in a fair and market-driven manner.

However, it will be interesting to see how the UK 3G operators react. They may fight this. They paid hefty prices for relatively narrow slices of 2 GHz spectrum and now Ofcom comes along with what may look like, in comparison, spectrum dumping. The UK’s 3G operators may be understandably angry if they find themselves competing against operators who paid considerably less for considerably more bandwidth in adjacent spectrum.

There is technology agnostic spectrum and there is technology agnostic spectrum. The European 3G band was billed as “technology agnostic,” but it turned out there was a catch: bidders were required to select their technology in advance. This regulatory sleight-of-hand assured that bidders would choose the only technology perceived as safe.

The plan to auction hundreds of MHz is what’s most interesting. Previous auctions on both sides of the Atlantic were arguably designed to maximize revenue by combining auctions with artificially-created shortages. Auctioning hundreds of MHz should help achieve the original auction goal: distributing spectrum in a fair and market-driven manner.

However, it will be interesting to see how the UK 3G operators react. They may fight this. They paid hefty prices for relatively narrow slices of 2 GHz spectrum and now Ofcom comes along with what may look like, in comparison, spectrum dumping. The UK’s 3G operators may be understandably angry if they find themselves competing against operators who paid considerably less for considerably more bandwidth in adjacent spectrum.