Is it just me or does the goverment actually want to have their cake, and eat it?

This time, with the potential second electro-magnetic spectrum auction and how we are lagging behind in broadband speeds.

The analog TV network is slowly being shutdown, this we already know; and the result will be to open up a whole band of frequencies. So the government, in true form, are trying to capitalise on this by selling these frequencies off.

True, they had a bit of a coup a few years ago when they sold off mobile frquencies for £22bn, and this generated a substantial amount of cash for the treasury (and, allegedly, the taxpayer) but since then the taxpayer has been paying back this amount in our phone bills. So, mobile owners have paid an extra £22bn to the treasury - fantastic!

Following he UK's trick of selling air, other countries tried to follow suit with similar auctions, and sure enough they fell flat on their arse. All the money had already been spent on the UK auction.

Now, OFCOM is sugesting that we auction this other airspace that will become free.

No, just no!!!!!!

We are widely criticised as a nation for fairly appalling broadband speeds. One option for this freed up space is WIMAX, a wireless form of broadband which is potentially faster than the proposed ADSL2 (up to 24Mbits / second)

By auctioning this airspace off it will make this new service prohibitively expensive for many ordinary people for years to come whilst the companies recoup their investments. It also seems a little bizarre that a company can own a section of the radio spectrum when Consumer Radio Stations still have to pay for very expensive broadcast licences with no guarantees that extend no further than a few years.

In 1984(ish) the 2G mobile licences were dealt out after a "Beauty Contest" that judged on merit rather than level the companies were willing to throw at the government in return for their licences, nearly all (with the exception of the BBC) radio stations have to compete for their licences every few years, the ITV franchises could still have their licences taken away (though unlikely following the cockup that was the 1990 Communications Act). What was so wrong with that system of operating?

Seems logical: provide a service; fail to do so adequately and get opportunity taken away. It is the system that has made the UK's media and communications, in some respects, the best in the world.

But, the Labour Government (and I say which party, as it was the same one that put the 3G spectrum up for sale, whereas a Tory goverment ruined ITV) have sensed a way of making a profit out of it, and either haven't realised (unlikely) or are hoping that the average person doesn't realise (likely) that it is simply a way of getting money out of us quickly that we then pay to the media companies.

This is nothing more than a stealth tax and will hinder any attempt to make our communications systems world class.