Auction or beauty contest?

THOSE following the telecommunications and media scene closely will be familiar with the term analogue switch off. This is when all broadcasting radio waves will move permanently from their current analogue signals to digital ones.

The Communications and Multimedia Ministry is confident that the exercise will be completed by the third quarter of this year.

Following that, the 700MHz telecommunications spectrum will become available and the government will have to make a decision on how to refarm this valuable spectrum.

This is a crucial matter to be figured out. The spectrum is worth billions of ringgit to the government. At the same time, the telecommunications industry is always starved of spectrum. Players are always vying for more of it. Who will be given the spectrum and for how much?

Historically, governments have had to choose one of two options – one to sell it via a bidding process, in which the price being offered is a key consideration, and the other being a “beauty parade”, where bidders submit their proposals on how best they are going to utilise the spectrum for the benefit of the industry and the country. The government’s decision on who it farms out the spectrum to becomes all the more crucial in light of the global race towards 5G. Hence, a lot of thought would need to go into figuring this out.

Whatever decision the government makes, it ought to explain this rationale well to all and sundry. While the spectrum can be sliced and diced to different parties, there is also the argument that one party using most of the spectrum would be a more efficient option, technologically speaking. So, all the pros and cons ought to be considered and all interested parties ought to have their views heard.