Positive message on the 700 band, but...

Yesterday, the Government decided that parts of the 700 MHz band will be released from November 1 this year, which means that the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) can now start preparing a new auction. This is positive because spectrum is a finite natural resource and spectrum in the 700 MHz band is needed to build mobile broadband with good capacity, which we need in Sweden to be competitive.

But (there is always a but ...), the delay is unfortunate. Sweden needs more investment in digital infrastructure if the government's goal of Sweden being the best in the world at using the opportunities of digitization is to be achieved. Delays, ambiguity and uncertainty are negative for the willingness to invest.

The government's decision to save spectrum for a separate new rocket network is not a good solution. Not sharing the existing infrastructure can be very expensive from a socio-economic perspective, especially for the municipalities that ultimately pay for emergency communications. Putting all your eggs in one basket is not necessarily safer; it is much easier to disrupt one network than five. It will also be difficult for a state network to keep up with technological developments in the same way as market players.

After the big 700 steps backwards taken by the government in November, this is a step forward for Sweden as a digitalizing nation. However, as a taxpayer, I remain concerned about the government's plans for a new Rocket network.