Vote yes for better mobile coverage!

If they say yes, there will be a number of implications for spectrum management in the UK.

As we noted in our article on the topic earlier this year, it would no longer be the responsibility of UK regulator Ofcom. Under the plans outlined by the current Scottish government in its independence white paper, spectrum management would be transferred to a combined economic regulator. 

Independence would also give the Scottish government the power to impose more stringent coverage obligations on future spectrum licences. The white paper makes it clear that this is what the government would like to do – it complains about the UK’s 2000 3G spectrum auction, which did not do enough to maximise coverage across the country.

“The result was a patchy network which left large parts of rural Scotland without coverage,” the document says. Giving the Scottish government direct control over spectrum licences will ensure “maximum availability of mobile telephony and broadband throughout Scotland as a whole, including our rural areas”.

But which companies would be interested in bidding for such licences? What if the current UK licensees (EE, O2, Three and Vodafone) decide there is no business case? This could lead to increased market fragmentation – a phenomenon unlikely to be welcomed by Brussels regulators, who are in the business of creating a single European telecoms market (although various senior European politicians have already warned that it will be some time before an independent Scotland would be able to join the EU in any case).

The UK has already assigned 4G spectrum to four UK-wide operators, so it is not clear that the Scottish government will be able to do anything to change that for quite some time. Those licences are indefinite in length, with an initial term of 20 years. However, the release of the 700 MHz band is still to come.