Committee (7th Day)

Part of Digital Economy Bill [HL] – in the House of Lords at 5:45 pm on 8 February 2010.

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Photo of Lord Clement-Jones Lord Clement-Jones Spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport 5:45, 8 February 2010

My Lords, I was listening very carefully and I took note of exactly what the noble Lord said, but he did not say that five competitors moving down to four made any difference to the Government's proposals. That was the point that I was making. Of course, he said that that was the Government's belief, but he did not say whether the Government had changed their view as a result of changes in the number of mobile operators. The other aspect was the Save Our Sound campaign. There have been assurances from the Government, but it seems that there is nothing concrete yet to help it in terms of replacing all the equipment which currently uses the 800 megahertz spectrum, which it will have to deal with. I was listening carefully to what the Minister had to say-but again, if I have misinterpreted the Minister, I apologise. I think that I have been listening pretty carefully, and I certainly did not hear the Minister say anything of that sort or anything about whether spectrum should be dealt with on a European-wide basis. That seems a rather important point. I do not know whether the Minister has any crumbs of comfort or scraps of paper or anything else that he cares to deliver in these circumstances. He shakes his head, so clearly not. We shall just have to wait until Report for further enlightenment.

Clause 38 agreed.

Clause 39 : Enforcement of licence terms etc

Amendment 242

Moved by Lord Young of Norwood Green

242: Clause 39, page 42, line 38, at end insert-

"( ) In section 400 of the Communications Act 2003 (destination of licence fees and penalties), in subsection (1)(d), after "42" insert "or 43A"."