Sweating the Small Stuff – the impact of the bureaucracy burden

This report examines the impacts of administration – including that caused by regulation – on SMEs, particularly looking at how much effort and cost these companies have to spend to comply with requirements. Across the eleven countries studied, the the size of the administrative burden varies considerably, but, on average, requires around 120 man-days and[…]

Regulatory due diligence assessment

The project provides an assessment of the broadcasting, electronic communication and spectrum regulation in the UK (including the UK Electronic Communications Code) and the risks that may arise from the current legislation/regulation and possible future changes. It considers all parts of business that fall under the legislation of these sectors.

Valuation advice relating to cellular spectrum in Canada

Ahead of renewal of spectrum licences in the AWS band, the CWTA commissioned Plum to compile a report looking at the value of AWS spectrum and how this should be applied to any renewal process.  Operators were concerned that ISEDC (the spectrum administrator) would use the renewals as an opportunity to significantly increase spectrum fees,[…]

The compatibility of LTE services and VSAT receivers

Plum have recently collaborated with Huawei in undertaking a number of studies intended to clarify options for spectrum sharing in C-band. The report linked here addresses issues relating to the co-existence of LTE services and satellite downlinks in the same, or adjacent, spectrum. The report describes realistic field trials which illustrate the potential for geographical[…]

The Impact of a Broadband Universal Service Obligation in the UK

The total cost, number of premises connected and overall net-benefit to the country of a broadband USO for the UK are all sensitive to design choices such as download speed, cost threshold, assumed take-up rates and funding mechanism – so were the findings of Plum’s study for the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG). The BSG is[…]

Commercial and economic impacts from IPR policy changes

Plum has recently completed a detailed report assessing the commercial and economic impacts that could result from important policy changes affecting use of intellectual property in technical standards. These changes were, rather contentiously, adopted by the US based IEEE organisation in 2015, following support from the US Department of Justice. Our report reviews intensive industry[…]

How can Europe succeed in 5G?

It is fairly well known now that the ‘traditional’ cellular investment thesis breaks down when run with both 5G financial and engineering numbers, driven by ongoing traffic growth, insufficient cost efficiency improvements, and weak top line growth. Whilst some say that traffic growth may slow once we plateau on video, this is uncertain. Virtual reality[…]