Impressing the panel And Norweb Telecom, which is bidding for one of the BFWA licences, does not think they should simply be awarded to those companies with the most cash. The supplier has been testing a service on 10Ghz wavelengths and feels confident it can impress the selection panel. We'd prefer a beauty contest where companies with the best business plans get the contracts. The Radio Communications Agency, which manages the UK's radio spectrum, admits it considered various options for selling off 28Ghz licences, including the beauty contest approach. But in a report on the two processes, it concluded that auctioning would make it easier to keep the selection procedure objective, non-discriminatory and transparent, as is required by the European Commission Licensing Directive.
Beauty contests favour established companies who can cite a track record in support of their case.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Trade and Industry added that an auction would allow the market to determine the right price for licences. But prices are expected to vary depending on region. A London licence will cost at least 4m and all others at least 1m - except for Northern Ireland, which will start at just 100,000. Each licence will be valid for 15 years and provide for bandwidth of two times 112Mhz. To try and offer some guarantee that services will be rolled out efficiently by the winning bidders, the government has also added 'use it or lose it' conditions to the contracts.