Internet: 4G Spectrum

House of Lords written question – answered at on 17 December 2012.

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Photo of Lord Myners Lord Myners Labour

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the comments by Lord Sassoon on 5 December (Official Report, col. 714) that the figure of £3.5 billion to be received from the auction of 4G spectrum had been certified by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), what was the evidence on which the OBR was able to certify that figure; and whether evidence from non-government sources had been taken into account.

Photo of Lord Sassoon Lord Sassoon The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) costs all government policies. The policy costing note, published at Autumn Statement 2012, indicates that the OBR's costing of 4G auction receipts is based on "independent analysis of revenues from comparable spectrum auctions outside the UK, and the increasing economic value of spectrum underpinned by the high level of anticipated competition in the commercial marketplace"1.

1 Page 38 http://cdn.hm-treasury.gov.uk/as20l2_policy_costings.pdf.

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