The National Audit Office (NAO) has confirmed to TechWeekEurope that it is investigating whether the Ofcom 4G spectrum auction achieved value for money.
The auction yielded £2.31 billion for the treasury, £1.2 billion less than it had accounted for, and significantly less than the total amount that some had suggested could be raised.
Ofcom said that the aim of the auction was not to generate revenue for the government, but to promote competition that will ensure consumers will benefit from the rollout of 4G services.
“The 4G auction was a success, which will deliver the maximum benefit to UK citizens and consumers – in line with Ofcom’s statutory duties,” said a spokesperson for the regulator. “It will create competition, with five companies able to launch competitive 4G services. This will lead to investment in new services, greater innovation and lower prices, plus enhanced coverage with a rule to cover almost all of the UK population by 2017 at the latest.”
“The auction was designed to promote competition and ensure coverage, rather than to raise money,” they added. “These benefits will deliver significantly more value in the long term to the UK than simply the revenue raised in the auction.”
This first appeared on TechWeekEurope UK. Read the whole story here.
Security vendor Flashpoint debuts partner programme following $28m funding
Complex buying journeys and sprawling partner networks hampering customer experience, says Accenture
Datacentre provider Cyxtera says launch is “milestone in our go-to-market strategy”
Ensono highlights importance of mainframes still to major industries
Security vendor VASCO looks to replicate UK and German set up across EMEA
Splunk details investment in Partner+ programme at .conf2017