UK Government moves forward with plans for White Space spectrum

The UK government is taking a close interest in dynamic spectrum access, or ‘White Space’ technology, according to Ed Vaizey, minister for culture, communications and creative industries, speaking at the DTG Summit in London this morning.

Vaizey said a programme of legislation to facilitate dynamic spectrum access would be set out in the government’s forthcoming communications White Paper.

Vaizey said that White Paper would not set out a prescriptive regulatory regime when things are changing so rapidly, and indicated that changes to the current regulatory regime for communications would be relatively modest.

“A lot of the regulations are still valid and important, and broadcasters are quite relaxed about them,” he said. The government had pulled back from tearing up the existing regulatory regime, even if there may be some amendments to Ofcom’s powers, he added.

Vaizey also said the government had placed its bet on the successful creation of a new “sub-sector in the media framework” in the form of local TV channels, with the expectation that the first channel to be licensed would come on air before the end of the year.