Asked by: Lord Griffiths of Burry Port (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits of a dynamic model of spectrum allocation for 5G network coverage in rural communities.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Government has regular discussions with Ofcom on a range of subjects, including 5G spectrum bands (including 3.6-3.8 GHz band). Government supports Ofcom's recent consultation document on ‘Enabling Opportunities for Innovation’ and is continuing to engage with stakeholders on the potential impact of a dynamic, flexible spectrum sharing model.
In February the Government published a consultation on its Statement of Strategic Priorities which reaffirms our support for flexible shared spectrum models and the release of additional public sector spectrum are some of Government’s strategic priorities. This is key to helping unlock new 5G use cases and enabling innovative solutions to connectivity challenges, including improving connectivity in rural areas.
Asked by: Lord Griffiths of Burry Port (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Ofcom about the allocation of the 3.6–3.8GHz 5G spectrum band; and what steps they have taken to ensure the band is accessible in areas outside the mobile operators’ rollout plans.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Government has regular discussions with Ofcom on a range of subjects, including 5G spectrum bands (including 3.6-3.8 GHz band). Government supports Ofcom's recent consultation document on ‘Enabling Opportunities for Innovation’ and is continuing to engage with stakeholders on the potential impact of a dynamic, flexible spectrum sharing model.
In February the Government published a consultation on its Statement of Strategic Priorities which reaffirms our support for flexible shared spectrum models and the release of additional public sector spectrum are some of Government’s strategic priorities. This is key to helping unlock new 5G use cases and enabling innovative solutions to connectivity challenges, including improving connectivity in rural areas.
Asked by: Lord Griffiths of Burry Port (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits of facilitating flexible use of the 5G spectrum by community and independent networks in areas where it is allocated to mobile operators but remains unused.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Government has regular discussions with Ofcom on a range of subjects, including 5G spectrum bands (including 3.6-3.8 GHz band). Government supports Ofcom's recent consultation document on ‘Enabling Opportunities for Innovation’ and is continuing to engage with stakeholders on the potential impact of a dynamic, flexible spectrum sharing model.
In February the Government published a consultation on its Statement of Strategic Priorities which reaffirms our support for flexible shared spectrum models and the release of additional public sector spectrum are some of Government’s strategic priorities. This is key to helping unlock new 5G use cases and enabling innovative solutions to connectivity challenges, including improving connectivity in rural areas.
Asked by: Lord Griffiths of Burry Port (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of EU Commission proposal 2016/0284, which lays down rules on the exercise of copyright and related rights applicable to certain online transmissions of broadcasting organisations and retransmissions of television and radio programmes, and its potential impacts on the UK.
Answered by Lord Henley
The proposed regulation under 2016/0284 seeks to extend a “country of origin” principle for copyright clearance to certain online broadcast transmissions (such as catch up services), meaning that rights only have to be cleared once in the country of origin of the service. It also proposes to extend the mandatory collective management of rights to retransmissions of TV and radio programmes delivered over the internet.
The Government provided an Explanatory Memorandum to the House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee and the House of Lords European Union Committee in October 2016 following publication of the Commission’s proposal. In this it set out how the proposed extension of country of origin principle could benefit consumers by enabling them to receive TV and radio programmes from other EU Member States via services which are currently unavailable – for example, where they miss a programme and cannot access the catch up service. Likewise, UK citizens in other countries may be able to access UK broadcasts. However, many broadcasters and rights holders have concerns that this provision will undermine their ability to license content by territory, which is central to their business models. The Government agrees that the proposal could undermine the principle of freedom to contract by territory, affecting both broadcasters and rights holders. On this basis, the Government opposes the proposed extension unless it protects the freedom to contract by territory robustly.
Asked by: Lord Griffiths of Burry Port (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the responses of the governments of France and Spain to EU Commission proposal 2016/0284, which outlined why they oppose the initiative based on their belief that it would undermine the principle of the territoriality of copyright.
Answered by Lord Henley
The proposed EU regulation under 2016/0284 seeks to apply a “country of origin” principle for copyright clearance to certain online broadcast transmissions (such as catch up services). The governments of France and Spain have made known their opposition to this extension.
The Government agrees that the Commission’s proposal could undermine the principle of freedom to contract by territory, affecting both broadcasters and rights holders. On this basis, the Government opposes the proposed extension unless it protects the freedom to contract by territory robustly.