Q&A: Could the 4G auction help boost rural mobile coverage?

published 26 July 2011

I think it would be more of a missed opportunity than anything else. You only have an opportunity to address these issues every so often.

So the auction shouldn't be completely about 4G?

It's a bit early to talk about 4G. What we're saying is that one shouldn't look at this purely from the point of view of 4G.

The opportunity here is that the auction could help extend mobile coverage of one kind or another. What we're looking for is simply wider coverage.

So what will the Communications Consumer Panel be doing to push the cause in the coming months?

We will wait and see what Ofcom says after the pressure from us and from a large number of interested stakeholders.

Some of what has to be done will have to take place outside of Ofcom with political moves as well.

It's early days yet, so let's just wait and see what happens.

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Tom Brewster is currently an associate editor at Forbes and an award-winning journalist who covers cyber security, surveillance, and privacy. Starting his career at ITPro as a staff writer and working up to a senior staff writer role, Tom has been covering the tech industry for more than ten years and is considered one of the leading journalists in his specialism.

He is a proud alum of the University of Sheffield where he secured an undergraduate degree in English Literature before undertaking a certification from General Assembly in web development.