Ofcom in search of a mobile accelerator

Ofcom has discovered recently that a critical factor of the UK economy is Mobile data transmissions and in an effort to increase competitiveness is now looking for new ways to use the technology.

A consultation paper was released by Ofcom to find out how a deeper and more widespread deployment of mobile technology could be achieved. Ofcom is also looking for a way to bring new entrants into the mobile marketplace, most importantly content providers.

Analasys Mason, the telecommunication research firm, found from a recent background study that in 2007 the UK had 73.2 million active subscribers which amounted to one hundred and twenty percent of the total population. From this over £18 billion was paid to the four biggest mobile network operators in the UK.

It also found that in the six months running up to March there was a seven hundred percent increase in data traffic and two of the mobile networks were carrying more data traffic than they were voice. The research company advised “The need to support growth in data traffic is now driving operators’ strategies for network investment.”

A new wave of data-based services Ofcom noted “promises to bring together two of the most significant features of modern communications: the flexibility of the internet, and the ease and immediacy of mobility.”

There are a number of key issues that Ofcom wants answering and they include how, with new regulations put into place, can they encourage the market to be more competitive, how to bring services to groups that are currently not being provided for, how to meet the needs of the “significant minority” of users who believe they have been mis-sold to or are not happy with their bills, and how to make call costs more appropriate.
“In preparing for a converged world, clarity of purpose and technology-neutrality will be vital,” Ofcom said.