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Price hike for UK mobile spectrum


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Old 24-09-2015, 13:52
Zebb
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The amount the government charges mobile operators to use airwaves space - known as spectrum - has risen from £64.4m to £199.6m per year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34346822
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Old 24-09-2015, 16:40
lightspeed2398
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Bad move from Ofcom in my opinion. This does nothing for competition I don't think and the increase will be passed to the consumer, either in a price hike or in a bad experience as they run out of money to upgrade. I wonder if this is Treasury pressure to get more income from them?
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Old 24-09-2015, 17:19
clewsy
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I suspect to make up from future lost revenue if the market becomes more uncompetitive on new frequency auctions.
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Old 24-09-2015, 19:12
tghe-retford
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So what will the mobile phone networks do?

- Soak up the increases to avoid passing the costs onto consum...
- Inflation busting price hikes;
- Reduction or removal of tethering;
- Abolition of unlimited data allowances such as AYCE;
- More people removed from grandfather contracts onto far more costly new contracts;
- Further reductions in data allowances, coupled with reductions in call time and text allowances.

It's going to be a very grim time for all concerned, particularly for consumers if the worst case scenario comes true. Damn this cynicism!
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Old 24-09-2015, 19:30
packages
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So what will the mobile phone networks do?

- Soak up the increases to avoid passing the costs onto consum...
- Inflation busting price hikes;
- Reduction or removal of tethering;
- Abolition of unlimited data allowances such as AYCE;
- More people removed from grandfather contracts onto far more costly new contracts;
- Further reductions in data allowances, coupled with reductions in call time and text allowances.

It's going to be a very grim time for all concerned, particularly for consumers if the worst case scenario comes true. Damn this cynicism!
All of the above? (except number 1 of course)
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Old 25-09-2015, 12:59
petef
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Mobile network licensing was meant to stimulate competition. The 5 operators of old will shortly consolidate to 3. Then at the heart Ofcom is flexing its power of monopoly.

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Old 25-09-2015, 19:42
tghe-retford
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All of the above? (except number 1 of course)
A lot of these things have already happened to some degree or are expected to happen. Its just that a tripling of fees due to Ofcom will exacerbate the situation. No-one wins but I suspect consumers will get the biggest hit as competition reduces in the future whilst the firms left continue to put the squeeze on data allowances and raise prices to both make up the shortfall and continue increasing profits.
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Old 25-09-2015, 21:04
ThisGuysGood
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Top tip-

Buy your phones simfree and buy iPhones, I buy my kids a new iPhone every year
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