Mobile citizens, mobile consumers

Consultation responses

By Ben Howarth

It has been a busy few weeks for the Mobile Sector Assessment team here at Ofcom. The consultation period ended on 6 November,  and the team have been busy poring over the details. The first batch of non-confidential responses are now live on the Ofcom website. More will be added shortly.

Even though the consultation period has now ended, this blog is still alive and raring to go. If you have any suggestions for how we can improve the blog, or any topics you would like us to discuss, then please leave a comment.

Consumer voice

By Ben Howarth

One of the most important areas for us to focus on during our consultation phase for the MSA is our engagement with consumer organisations. Our primary obligation is to “further the interest of citizens and consumers”, so it is vital for us to understand what the true issues for consumers are!

We therefore co-hosted an event with the Ofcom Consumer Panel represented by Anna Bradley (chair) and Roger Darlington and bringing together people from consumer advocacy groups, such as Consumer Focus, charities such as RNIB and RNID, representing people with visual and hearing impairments, and consumer advice services such as Which? and Consumer Direct.

Roger opened with a great anecdote that really placed the discussion in perspective: in 1984 he wrote a paper for the then Post Office Engineering Union, where he pointed out that there were a mere 315,000 users of, what were called then, radio telephones in the UK. This is quite amazing when you compare that with data from the end of 2007 showing UK mobile subscriptions exceeded 73.5m!

A common thread that ran through the session was that the market seems to be increasingly difficult for consumers to navigate due to lack of transparency and clarity around pricing and terms and conditions of mobile services.

Consumers on low incomes may find it difficult to participate in the market, with a lack of availability of low cost, robust handsets and a feeling that minimum top-ups for pre-pay customers are increasing.

Organisations representing consumers with hearing, visual or learning impairments often feel that operators, services providers and handset manufacturers could be more open to creative ways to incorporate technologies or services that would make mobile phones easier to use and more accessible to them.

The debate around these issues was very informative for us! Thanks to everyone who came along for feeding into our preparations and sharing your thoughts during the session!

I think Anna summarised the discussions well in her closing statement when she grouped the issues and ideas discussed into three broad areas:
•    Optimising the mainstream market and helping consumers make informed choices;
•    Opening up the market to new entrants and niche providers (including those from the non-profit      sector); and
•    Establishing safety-nets for disadvantaged consumers.

What do you think?

Mobile Sector Assessment on the road…

By Ben Howarth

The last fortnight has seen the Mobile Sector Assessment team hit the road and meet with Ofcom's Scottish and Northern Irish Advisory Boards which provide Ofcom with independent advice, relevant to their specific nation. 

In Scotland it was interesting to note how important mobile is becoming. Our session wrapped up a day where the agenda was dominated by mobile, including discussions on the forthcoming Universal Service Obligation consultation from the European Commission, and the new femtocell-based proposition emerging from Edinburgh based, Hays Systems. (Femtocells are mini cellular base stations, specially designed for use in residential or small business environments which connect to the mobile network via the users' broadband connection, rather than directly onto the mobile operators network). In Northern Ireland, the agenda was more evenly spread, with access and inclusion topics reflecting the rapid development of the local economy.

Responses to the Mobile Sector Assessment focused on three areas:

• Coverage and national roaming - although both Advisory Boards are very aware that 3G networks are still in the process of being rolled out, and therefore the very limited coverage currently experienced is likely to be radically improved. There was, however, a realisation that at some point 3G coverage growth will stop, and there will be large areas of Northern Ireland and Scotland with limited coverage. Discussions therefore focused on what, if anything, could be done to maximise the possible coverage including ideas like National Roaming and 999 emergency access.

• Customer service - interestingly rather than a discussion focused on pricing and mis-selling the Advisory Board was concerned that as the capabilities of a mobile phone advanced, the networks’ customer services were unable to keep up. Mobile phones were described as mini-computers with poor keyboards, and therefore although issues with crashes and program installations were accepted, there was an expectation that the mobile networks would be able to support the full range of functionality installed on the devices there were supplying. This was something the Board felt they were not doing currently.

• Content - although not strictly within the scope of the Mobile Sector Assessment concerns were raised about the availability of unsuitable content for children on mobiles with installed web browsers. Eight year olds with mobile phones are now a common occurrence, but operator-managed protection from unsuitable content was easily circumvented and frequently based on a self-certification. There was a recognition that the very personal nature of a mobile phone (nobody else can see the screen) is making this issue even more acute than web browsers on full size PCs.

We are heading back to Northern Ireland in late November to listen some more…..

The importance of mobile

By David Stewart

There's a real appetite for debate about Ofcom's Mobile Sector Assessment within the telecommunications industry, judging by discussion at last week's FCS' Comms Provider 08 event. (The FCS is the trade association representing 'service providers' (companies who purchase network access from network operators to supplement or replace the need for their own network assets).   

The main focus for my presentation was the importance of events in the mobile sector to the wider telecoms world. Here's a copy of the slides I used.

20081016 FCS Conference (2)

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

Vivian Woodell of The Phone Co-op gave a presentation in response.

Comms Provider 16 Oct 08 (Final)

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

While Vivian's call for "re-regulation" of the mobile sector would be controversial to many (including me), he raises an important issue for debate about the role played by smaller providers and the value that diversity of supply brings in competitive markets. It will be interesting to see what we get on this issue in submissions to the MSA - and on this blog (hint).

A picture is worth a thousand words (or more precisely, 166 pages)

By Ben Howarth

This clever little picture, courtesy of Wordle, lets us see the word cloud for the entire Mobile citizen, mobile consumers consultation document.

I think we managed to mention the word 'mobile' enough, but are there any surprises here for you? Or words that you expected to see but don't?

Google shakes up (another) market

By Ben Howarth

Although the hardware has been accused by some of lacking oriG1nality (thanks, I'm here all week), the emergence of the first Google phone using the new Android platform has added an extra shot of adrenaline into an already exciting handset market.

For me, there are two important trends emerging in the handset world. The first regards usability, and has a lot to do with iPhone. For all the plaudits that the iPhone has (rightly) received, they have not been solely as a result of its technological specification. Until this point handsets had generally competed on specification - weight and size, camera quality, 3G features, etc. Instead, it is the intuitive software, and ease of use, that has really set the iPhone apart from the crowd. The Android software on the G1, even in this early stage of development, looks set to continue this trend.

In Mobile citizens, mobile consumers we asked whether consumers were capable and confident at using their mobile phones. The answer, broadly, was yes. However, we found that the picture was more varied when looking at certain parts of society - in our survey 14% of 45-64 year olds and 23% of 64-74 year olds reported difficulties when using mobile phones in 2008. The exciting news for us, and those that presently have difficulties using their mobile phones, is that with innovations such as the iPhone and Android, the industry is beginning to react.

The second trend is the importance of operating systems, the degree of access they allow to developers and the subsequent opportunities for innovation. Whilst Windows Mobile and the iPhone operating system operate within walled gardens, Android promises to be a more flexible and open system. John Naughton, writing in last Sunday's Observer does a pretty good job at explaining the differences, and possibilities that this approach brings. In short, the possibilities for innovation are great.

Exciting times...but will you be queuing up for a G1 on its UK launch day?

UPDATE - October 16th

T-Mobile has now announced that the G1 will be available in the UK from 30 October, and that 25 thousand customers have already pre-registered an interest in the device.

A trip to the Museum

By David Stewart

It is (I am told) a rite of passage for British schoolchildren: a visit to London's Imperial War Museum, to come face-to-face with the twin horrors of war and relentlessly cheery 1940s music.* My visit was slightly different; the Museum was the venue for the Westminster Media Forum's seminar on The Future of Mobile and Wireless Services held yesterday. It was hard to know quite what the schoolchildren made of us milling around. Perhaps they thought we were part of the show.

Ofcom's Stuart McIntosh gave the keynote address, about the Mobile Sector Assessment and where we're headed. While the full transcript will be available soon, here are Stuart's slides:

Ofcom's Mobile Sector Assessment - where next?

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: mobile ofcom)

This led into some good panel discussion - chaired by Roger Darlington (who as he noted on his blog, got press-ganged into chairing most of the day at short notice - well done!).

There followed two further sessions - the first, bravely (given other events in the news) was about 'Market prospects'. The second covered 'Convergence, spectrum release and new services' - nothing if not ambitious. I found both of them very interesting, and useful.

Rather than try and summarize, the transcript of the event will be available in a few days - you can signal your interest in getting a copy by getting in touch with the WMF directly. When we have a link to the form we will post it here.

Some points worth passing on that you might not get from the transcript:

• There's a real buzz about the Mobile Sector Assessment - and that extends well beyond the people and organisations you'd expect. Obviously I don't pretend to be totally objective on this issue. To give you a sense of what I mean, I really enjoyed hearing the BBC's Matthew Postgate talking about their planned input to the Assessment. And there is acknowledgement that now is a good time for a strategic look at where we are, with a number of speakers talking about how, given changes in the sector, there was a need for (as Jenine Hulsmann put it) a "regulatory compass".
• Issues about how access to the internet using mobile devices will evolve in future remain quite unclear, although everyone seems to agree that it's going to be a big deal. But will it be mobile broadband using dongles? Smartphones like the iPhone (or GPhone?) Something else? When it happens, we'll all know, apparently. Until then, place your bets.
• We are all fogies. Get over it. Scott Beaumont (of Mippin) made the point well when he talked about how uses of mobile technology will be transformed as true 'digital natives' come of age. Or as he put it later: 'it is difficult for the middle-aged shaping this policy to put themselves in the shoes of the younger generation who are actually making the rules of engagement'. This obviously left me in equal parts pleased for the younger generation, who at least get to keep their own shoes, and deeply depressed about being called - for the first time in my life - 'middle-aged' (I'm 37). Check out the Mippin blog for his take on the event, and his presentation.   
• There were some interesting exchanges between some of the mobile players on number portability, following the recent CAT decision overturning Ofcom's 2007 decision to revise the porting rules. Clearly, the mobile industry remains divided about what outcome to support - with all sides claiming their approach best serves 'the consumer'. And it looks as if further commercial progress is unlikely, putting this firmly back on the regulatory agenda. (In line with the decision, we're gearing up for a fresh look at this issue).

*Important note: This is not to make light of the horrors of war, which of course fully deserve the bad billing they get.

Ofcom-BERR response to the European Commission consultation

By Ben Howarth

For those of you not on the Ofcom update distribution list (shame on you) you may have missed our publication of a joint response with BERR, to the European Commission consultation on the setting of cost-based termination rates. To access the response in PDF format please click here. To access the supporting technical document, also a PDF, please click here.
 

Openness and the mobile internet

By David Stewart

One question we ask in our consultation document is: What role can competition play in ensuring that the mobile internet provides an open and flexible environment for a wide range of services? 

The balance between closed and open platforms in the mobile sector, and issues like net neutrality, remain a subject of debate here and around the world - nowhere more than in the US. Recently, a combination of regulatory and commercial initiatives seem to have shifted the balance towards more openness for some mobile platforms (if not a free-for-all).

For us, a critical question is the role openness may play in enabling innovation. That's why it was interesting to see the press coverage today about the views of the CEOs of three of the big four US mobile carriers, each talking at the Fall 2008 CTIA trade show. Verizon Wireless' Lowell McAdam, talking about their Open Development initiative, is reported as saying:

"There is an innovation tidal wave occurring right now," he said. "People making applications for the desktop want to move to mobile phones. We couldn't handle all that innovation into our business, so opening the doors, and still protecting the network, is the only way we have to this."

But the headline tells the story: 'Mobile carrier CEOs still want network control'. And others also pick up on the way mobile industry executives are quick to point out that openness may have operational and commercial limits. The core point is that mobile networks are very different from fixed networks - and this may affect the degree of openness of the mobile internet.

At this point, we're open-minded. As we said in our consultation, our starting point is to understand how competition might work to deliver an open and thriving mobile broadband environment. We think that should help foster innovation (which is one of the things we're duty-bound to consider). But in a global marketplace, the way these issues play out in the UK may be affected by what happens elsewhere.

What do you think?

Mobile Sector Assessment update - 11/9

By David Stewart

So what did we do in the first two weeks after launching our consultation?

Stakeholder contact

• More than 100 early responses to our consultation, mostly from individuals and mostly via the online response form.
• Over 80 comments on the interactive executive summary.
• Nearly 40 comments on this blog.
• Met with Microsoft on 28/8 (Anthony Philips, Senior Director and Danny Bemelmans, Senior Manager, both from Mobile Platform and Services Business Development).
• Discussed the MSA consultation with the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on 10/9 (as part of a regular Ofcom/BERR catch-up).

Other things we did

• Planning work we want to do during the consultation period (for example, the things that we said in our consultation we intend to pursue).
• Preparing for further stakeholder contact.