Demand for bigger slice of spectrum by Orange to offer UK Broadband for all

The setting up of a broadband network throughout the UK that will meet Lord Stephen Carters ambitions for universal broadband access has been offered by Orange, the mobile telecommunications company, although it has requested a share of the spectrum O2 and Vodafone own in return.

The proposal was made in the first batch of submissions that were made to the interim Digital Britain report from the communications minister, which gave an outline of the communications vision for digital radio’s future to broadband access by the government, by Orange, who has over a million residential users of broadband across the UK.

Plans by Lord Carter to create a rights agency that would bring the TV, Film and music industry together with internet service providers to combat the illegal sharing of files online has been met with seemingly little support from within the internet industry.

A recent submission from the Carphone Warehouse’s TalkTalk, the third biggest provider of broadband in the UK, summed up the general attitude from ISPs saying “It appears to us that the rights agency is ‘an answer looking for a question’. It is a vehicle without a clear remit or responsibility.”

Broadband connections for everyone at a minimum speed of 2Mbps by 2012 were called for by Lord Carter in the interim Digital Britain report he published back in January. To achieve this ambition he suggested that the mobile phone networks throughout the UK should be used to fill in the gap the current fixed-line infrastructure had missed in order to provide faster broadband access to a further 1.5 million homes.

A meeting to work out a deal that would see O2 and Vodafone sharing a portion of their spectrum, which could be used for broadband access in rural areas due to its close proximity to the analogue TV signal, was arranged by Lord Carter with the five mobile networks in the UK as part of the process.

Lord Carter has, however warned that part of the spectrum will be taken by force if a deal cannot be struck by April. Carter’s ambition was said to have not gone far enough and that “in the round” all of the available spectrum should be considered, in a submission from network operator 3.

Lord Carter was, however, told that by 2012 Orange would build the network he required and that its rivals will be able to share this network, but only if it existing 3G license is “extended indefinitely” and it is given a portion of Vodafone and O2’s spectrum. The granting of the new high-frequency spectrum to the mobile phone industry as well as part of the so-call ‘digital dividend’, which once the analogue TV signal is turned off in 2012 will be made available was also demanded by Orange.