Ofcom names 4G auction bidders

20 December 2012 Last updated at 12:17 GMT The results of the 4G auction will be known in February and March Seven bidders for the auction of bandwidth for 4G mobile broadband services have been named by Ofcom.

The bidders are Everything Everywhere, BT, Vodafone, O2 and Three, as well as Hong Kong conglomerate PCCW and UK network supplier MLL Telecom.

The telecoms regulator said the auction would increase the amount of airwave available for mobiles by more than 75%.

The auction is due to start next month, with licences granted by March and services launching in May and June.

The complete list of bidders is:

Everything Everywhere (EE), which has already been permitted to launch the UK's first 4G service using existing bandwidth and did so on 30 OctoberPCCW, a major Hong Kong telecoms conglomerate, operating through its subsidiary HKTHutchison Whampoa, another Hong Kong conglomerate and operator of the 3 networkMLL Telecom, a telecom network supplier founded in 1992 and based in Marlow, BuckinghamshireBT, via its subsidiary "Niche Spectrum Ventures"Telefonica, the Spanish incumbent telecoms company that owns the O2 networkVodafone

"New 4G services will stimulate investment, growth and innovation in the UK, and deliver significant benefits to consumers in terms of better, faster and more reliable mobile broadband connections," said Ed Richards, Ofcom's chief executive.

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Radio navigation, transport communications, commercial radio

Old analogue television frequency, being auctioned for 4G

Original 2G frequency, now also used for 3G

Original 2G frequency, now also used for 3G and 4G (EE only)

Military radio communications, slated to be auctioned for 4G in 2014

Household devices, such as wi-fi, bluetooth, cordless phones, microwave ovens

None designated (often resulting in local interference)

Military radar, slated to be auctioned for 4G in 2014

Radar, satellite communications

Download speeds will initially be at least five to seven times faster than existing 3G networks, Ofcom claimed.

Ofcom aims to award licences to at least four "credible national wholesalers of mobile services".

The auction is expected to raise £3.5bn for government coffers, or 0.2% of the UK's annual economic output, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility - far less than the £22bn raised by the auction of 3G space, which was held at the height of the dotcom bubble in 2000.

However, many analysts are sceptical that the 4G auction will raise even £3.5bn.

Penetrating buildings

The auction is making use of the 800MHz radio spectrum freed up by the switch from analogue to digital television, and also offers an additional higher-frequency 2.6GHz band.

Ultra-high frequencies - between 300MHz and 3GHz - are seen as a sweet-spot for mobile communications, as they combine acceptable signal range with adequate capacity for high data transmission, such as in the case of video streaming.

Lower frequency radio waves travel further and penetrate buildings more easily, and are seen as better suited to rural areas.

The higher frequency band is better able to cope with heavy data transmission, and is seen as preferable in urban areas, although its more restricted reception area means that operators may need to set up more masts, including inside some public buildings.

EE, which was formed from the merger of Orange and T-Mobile in the UK, is said to be taking part so that it can gain additional frequency bands to expand its recently launched 4G service.

EE has made use of old 2G - non-broadband - 1.8GHz bandwidth, that the merged network inherited from its two predecessors, after being given a special dispensation from Ofcom in August.

However, the network has been criticised for being patchy and unreliable.

One test conducted in Manchester found that just 40% of tested locations got 4G reception from EE. The 4G provider, however, said the test was conducted in Greater Manchester and the service is available in over 80% in the city itself.

Spare capacity?

More 4G capacity will become available in the coming years.

Earlier this week, the Ministry of Defence said that it would also auction off even higher frequency bandwidth - up to 15GHz - that it owns, but not until 2014.

Meanwhile, a ruling by the European Union requires Ofcom to permit operators to switch existing 3G bandwidth they currently control over to 4G from 2014.

The additional bandwidth is useful to operators, as individual 4G services take up a bigger chunk of spectrum than earlier mobile telephony, although 4G is also more versatile in the range of bandwidths that it can operate within.

Mobile services occupy relatively tight bands of the radio spectrum within the 300MHz to 3GHz sweet-spot, meaning that there is plenty of capacity available to support much greater mobile data transmission in future.

However, Ofcom's ability to provide new bandwidths within the UK is limited by the need to harmonise bandwidths internationally.

Mobile handsets are designed to tune into the same specific frequencies in many different countries. Producing a separate handset just for UK-only frequencies would be more expensive for manufacturers.

The new 800MHz frequency for 4G is being made available across the whole of Europe as a result of the switch-off of analogue television broadcasting.

Ironically, the UK was the first country to inaugurate digital television in 2007, but then had to change the frequency of digital TV broadcasting - requiring people to retune their television - in order to bring the UK into line with the rest of Europe.

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BBC police dramas breach Ofcom rules

17 December 2012 Last updated at 15:39 GMT Martin Compston plays Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott in BBC drama Line of Duty Ofcom has found two BBC police dramas, Good Cop and Line Of Duty, in breach of rules regarding protecting children.

It said more steps should have been taken to protect a 13-year-old child actor in Line of Duty from sexually explicit language and violence.

A violent trailer for Good Cop, aired on BBC One HD before the watershed, was also found in breach.

The watchdog is also currently investigating ITV1's I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!

That investigation relates to an incident where the child of EastEnders star Charlie Brooks appeared in a stunt.

Earlier this month, Ofcom said it was investigating BBC children's show Dick and Dom's Hoopla after a young girl was left retching during an eating challenge.

Following "a number of complaints about children's participation in other programmes which Ofcom has considered recently", the watchdog announced that it was calling a meeting of several broadcasters to discuss the requirements of its code regarding children.

It will also start doing spot checks to ensure broadcasters are complying with the code.

Line of Fire

In Line of Duty, Gregory Piper appeared in scenes in which his character Ryan Pilkington was head-butted and attempted to sever a policeman's finger with pair of bolt-cutters and also a scene where sexually-explicit language was directed at him.

An issue was raised over whether the programme complied with rules of care regarding the physical and emotional welfare of the child and whether unnecessary distress was caused by his involvement in the programme.

The BBC submitted evidence that it had taken several steps before, during and after production to protect the child from distress.

Set in Liverpool, Good Cop first aired in August 2012

These included being in constant dialogue with the child's parents, who had seen the scripts after Piper auditioned for what would be his first acting role, six weeks after starting drama school.

A children's entertainment licence was obtained, his mother acted as a chaperone and was on set throughout filming, and several months after it finished wrote an account highlighting her son's very positive experience.

But Ofcom found the child had been present during the shooting of a scene in which his character was exposed to sexually explicit language, broadcast on 24 July.

DC Fleming (played by Vicky McClure) was seen using the language during a scene in which Pilkington was interviewed by police.

Distressing language

The BBC said: "It would have been preferable for the contributions from (the child actor) and the character DC Fleming to have been filmed separately to avoid his exposure to the language that was used."

Ofcom also said the broadcaster should have sought an expert opinion from a child counsellor or psychologist on whether it was appropriate for the child actor to participate in scenes, broadcast on 17 July, in which he tries to close bolt-cutters on one of Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott's fingers.

It also said the executive producer should have removed the child actor from the set if possible whenever potentially distressing language was being used.

Regarding the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! case, there were 66 complaints submitted to Ofcom when Brooks and her seven-year-old daughter missed out on seeing each other during a trial.

Brooks, 31, who plays Janine in the BBC One soap, and darts player Eric Bristow had to choose from a selection of doors that had treats behind them in this year's series of the jungle show.

The actress did not know that her daughter, who had not seen her mother for 18 days, was behind one of the doors in the challenge and missed out on the reunion after picking the wrong door.

Scheduling issue

Ofcom also ruled Good Cop, a drama which centres on the murder of a policeman in the line of duty and the revenge which a fellow officer takes against the killers, was in breach of excessive violence shown in a trailer.

Screened on 6 August on BBC One HD during the Olympic Games at about 1840 GMT, the item showed a police officer being violently assaulted by a group of men and having a television dropped on him following a call-out.

Ofcom investigated the material, which was shown to an audience of 29,000 following an eight-minute promotion directing viewers to the BBC regional channel.

It was found in breach of Rule 1.3, which requires that children must be protected by appropriate scheduling from material that is unsuitable for them.

Singing talent programme The X Factor was found not in breach of Ofcom regulations after a Britney Spears impersonator named Lorna Bliss had danced in a fishnet body stocking over a bikini, which had slipped down exposing the bikini top.

Because it was only shown once before the 2100 watershed, no action was taken.

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