Whatwethinkofthisfortnight’s toptechnewsstoriesandrumours,
andhowtheyaffectyou
Discusswebnewsatforum.webuser.co.uk 4-17April 2018 9
Needto Know
What happened?
Communicationsregulator
Ofcomhasstarted
auctioningthe5G
spectrumintheUK–
althoughwewon’tknow
whichcompanieshavewon
aslicefortheir next-
generationnetworksfor
severalweeks.Thefive
biddersareEE,3G,
Telefonica,Vodafoneand
newcomerAirspace
SpectrumHoldings.
Ofcomisselling 19 0MHz
ofspectrumintwobands,
150MHzofwhichisinthe
3.4GHzband,whichhas
beensetasidefor5G
services.Theregulatorhas
setanoverall £70mreserve
price,andwhilethat’s likely
toclimbwitheachbid,the
regulatorstressesthat
efficientuseofspectrumis
moreimportantthanthe
financialvalueofthe
auction.Whateverthe
auctionraises,it won’t
comenearthe£ 22 .5bn
operatorsshelledoutfor
3Gspectrum 20 yearsago.Howwill it affect you?
Thereleaseofmore
spectrumforexisting
serviceswill helpease
congestionformobile
broadband,Ofcomsays,UK mobile networks
start bidding for 5G
whilethe3.4GHzbandwill
letoperatorssetupthe
first5Gservices.That
couldmeananythingfrom
fasterbroadbandonour
smartphonesto‘Internetof
Things’-stylenetworksthat
linksensorsineverything
fromtrafficlightsto
parkingbaysandmore.
Operatorsdon’t need
tobuyspectrumin
thisauctiontorun5G,
however–plentyof
themalreadyownbands
thatcanworkfornext-
generationnetworks.What dowethink?
Morespectrumisalwaysa
goodthingforconsumers,
becauseit meansmore
bandwidthandfaster
internetspeeds.Thetrick
forOfcomistoensurethe
addedcapacitygoestothe
rightoperators.Thisis
alreadyamatterfor
dispute,asEEandThree
aretakinglegalactionover
theregulator’slimitson
howmuchspectrumany
onecompanycanown.
Providersunhappywiththe
resultsofthisauctionwill
haveasecondchanceto
expandtheircapacityin
20 19,whenthe700MHz
bandisauctioned.What happened?
Googlehasunveiledits
$3 00 mNewsInitiative
tohelppublishersfight
backagainstfakenews,
andtomakeit easierfor
themtomanagetheir
subscribers–hopefully
encouragingafewmore
tosignupintheprocess.
‘SubscribewithGoogle’
isessentiallyapaywall
managedbyGoogle.When
youvisit anewssitethat
usesSubscribe,it tellsyou
howmanyfreearticlesyou
haveleft.Ifyou’veusedup
yourallowance,youcan
payforaccesswithyour
Googleaccountratherthan
havingtogothrougheach
individualpublisher’s
registrationand
subscriptionsystem.
Atlaunch,theservice
includestheNewYork
Times,Le Figaro,the
Washington Postand
–hereintheUK–the
Financial Timesand
Telegraph.Howwill it affect you?
Thesubscriptionsystem
shouldmakeit easierto
signupfornewssites
withoutneedingseparate
logindetailsforeachone,
although
you’ll have
tohandover
yourcard
detailsto
Googleto
payfor
content.
Each
publisher
setsitsown
prices.
Because
SubscribeisGoogle simplifies
news-site paywalls
tiedtoyourGoogle
account, it will work
whereveryou’resignedin
toChromeorAndroid.
Whenyousearchfora
newsstory,thefirstresults
youseearefrom
publicationsyousubscribe
to.Theseappearina
dedicatedbox,soyou
don’tkeepclickingon
paywalledstoriesyou’re
notallowedtoread.If you
alreadyhaveasubscription
toaparticularpublication,
you’ll needtolinkit toyour
Googleaccountforit to
workwiththesite.What dowethink?
Thisisagoodidea,andwe
hopeit goesfurther.
PerhapsGooglecouldoffer
micro-subscriptionsthat
allowyoutopayasmall
amounttoreadafewmore
storieswithoutbuyinga
full subscription,ormake
one-offdonationstothank
journalistsforparticularly
interestingorcompelling
work.Hopefully,thisisjust
thebeginningofa
revolutioninthewaywe
payforonlinenews,which
will benefitbothreaders
andthosecreatingthe
content.