Page 28 - Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2016

Box 1.1: Key lessons from the Mobile Infrastructure Project (MIP)
• The UK regulator Ofcom played an important role in identifying the location of not-spots
and continued to support the government in delivering MIP.

• The award of state funds to develop broadband infrastructure should require operators
to share their network infrastructure on a wholesale basis to promote competition and
reduce costs.

• Government interventions should aim to fund the construction of passive infrastructure
in areas where there is no competing infrastructure.

• Amendments to legislation and regulation involving the deployment of networks can
reduce “red tape” and speed up delivery.

• Stakeholder communications are vital in ensuring all industry players are familiar with the
design plans for the project, allowing MNOs to coordinate their own radio planning and
service delivery plans.

• Private operators should work closely with the industry and key stakeholders to anticipate
and overcome the technical challenges of providing power and communications before
they become an issue.

• A competitive tender process will ensure that the government achieves a solution that
both meets its technical requirements and represents value for money for its citizens.

• A single, coordinated, national roll-out (as opposed to a patchwork of broadband
networks) can create implementation synergies, thus reducing the government's overall
funding requirement.

sites reportedly had gone live. The delays could be early to tell whether MIP has been successful in
blamed on several reasons: eradicating not-spots, but it is clear that a project
of this scale is challenging and requires detailed
• It was alleged that Arqiva had not provided upfront planning, coordination and stakeholder
detailed roll-out plans or timescales for the management. The key lessons and take-aways
development of the mast sites. have been summarized below.

• Some of the sites had to undergo lengthy Case study: National Broadband Scheme (NBS),
consultation processes to get the necessary Ireland
planning approvals for the mast construction.
This PPP project was chosen for this chapter
• There were technical challenges in getting an because it was one of the earliest schemes to use
adequate power supply (3-phase electricity) to private a DBO model to improve basic broadband
some of the most remote sites.
connectivity in rural areas. The fact that it has
been fully implemented provides many useful
• It was challenging to secure backhaul circuits lessons. The project also awarded a contract to
to connect some of the most remote sites.
a mobile provider rather than a fixed provider,
providing useful insights to regulators and
The UK’s telecommunication regulator, Ofcom, governments in developing markets, where mobile
played an important role in identifying the services are more popular than fixed services.
location of not-spots and continued to support
the government in delivering MIP . It is too
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10 Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2016