AGL 40.00 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
AIRLINK 130.95 Increased By ▲ 1.42 (1.1%)
BOP 6.75 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (1.05%)
CNERGY 4.71 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (1.73%)
DCL 8.98 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.45%)
DFML 43.24 Increased By ▲ 1.55 (3.72%)
DGKC 83.98 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (0.25%)
FCCL 32.80 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.09%)
FFBL 77.60 Increased By ▲ 2.13 (2.82%)
FFL 11.54 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.61%)
HUBC 111.00 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (0.41%)
HUMNL 14.53 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.21%)
KEL 5.46 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (1.3%)
KOSM 8.46 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.71%)
MLCF 40.00 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (0.53%)
NBP 60.76 Increased By ▲ 0.47 (0.78%)
OGDC 198.50 Decreased By ▼ -1.16 (-0.58%)
PAEL 26.80 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (0.56%)
PIBTL 7.90 Increased By ▲ 0.24 (3.13%)
PPL 158.98 Increased By ▲ 1.06 (0.67%)
PRL 26.53 Decreased By ▼ -0.20 (-0.75%)
PTC 18.85 Increased By ▲ 0.39 (2.11%)
SEARL 82.66 Increased By ▲ 0.22 (0.27%)
TELE 8.43 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.44%)
TOMCL 34.80 Increased By ▲ 0.29 (0.84%)
TPLP 9.19 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (1.43%)
TREET 17.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-0.4%)
TRG 61.85 Increased By ▲ 0.53 (0.86%)
UNITY 27.83 Increased By ▲ 0.40 (1.46%)
WTL 1.39 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.72%)
BR100 10,490 Increased By 83.1 (0.8%)
BR30 31,857 Increased By 144.1 (0.45%)
KSE100 98,015 Increased By 686.2 (0.71%)
KSE30 30,409 Increased By 216.1 (0.72%)

The negative impacts of high spectrum prices on consumers can no longer be disputed, according to a new report released today by the GSMA at ITU Telecom World 2019. The GSMA report titled, 'The Impact of Spectrum Prices on Consumers' confirms that countries with poor spectrum policies - which either inflate spectrum or delay spectrum assignments - are leading to millions of people being left unable to access mobile broadband services or experiencing reduced network quality.
"Spectrum auctions can't be viewed as cash cows anymore," said Brett Tarnutzer, Head of Spectrum, GSMA. "Any government that prices spectrum to maximise revenue now does so with full knowledge that its actions will have negative repercussions on citizens and the development of mobile services. We now have clear evidence that shows by restricting the financial ability of operators to invest in mobile networks millions of consumers are suffering."
The GSMA study is the first to provide strong evidence to directly link high spectrum prices, and certain other spectrum management practices, to negative consumer outcomes, such as slow network rollout, reduced quality of service and poor mobile coverage. 1 The key findings for the period analysed from 2010 to 2017 in both developed and developing countries are highlighted below:
1. In developed countries, high spectrum costs played a significant role in slowing the rollout of 4G networks and drove a long-term reduction in 4G network quality;
2. In developing countries, spectrum prices were, on average, almost three times more expensive than in developed countries in relation to expected revenues. In these countries, high spectrum costs slowed down the rollout of both 3G and 4G networks and drove long-term reductions in overall network quality;
3. In the countries studied with the highest spectrum prices, the average mobile operator's 4G network would cover 7.5% more of the population if they had acquired spectrum at the median spectrum price;
4. The timing of spectrum awards has a significant impact on mobile coverage. For example, if an operator was assigned 4G spectrum at least two years earlier, their 4G network population coverage would on average be 11-16 percentage points higher (all else being equal). The rollout of 3G networks was also significantly delayed in markets that licensed spectrum late, with 3G coverage levels up to 12% lower during the rollout period in those markets; and
5. The amount of spectrum licensed to operators had a significant impact on network quality. Over the period of analysis, an additional 20 MHz of 4G spectrum increased average download speeds by between 1 and 2.5 Mbps (equivalent to an increase of up to 15%).

Copyright Associated Press, 2019

Comments

Comments are closed.