Coleago appointed to lead UK SPF's future spectrum users demand study
The UK Spectrum Policy Forum is pleased to announce that Coleago Consulting has been selected to lead the UK Spectrum Policy Forum's study on future spectrum users' demand. This independent study will build the forward-looking evidence base that UK spectrum policy, valuation and access frameworks will need as connectivity continues to evolve rapidly.
The study will identify two to three common cross-sector use cases for deeper analysis, focusing on emerging demand that is not yet well understood by Ofcom today. We are now calling on UK SPF members and the wider spectrum community to share their views.
Why this study matters
The UK's spectrum landscape is changing fast. AI adoption, edge computing, non-terrestrial networks, intensive spectrum sharing and new enterprise connectivity models are all reshaping how organisations use radio frequencies.
Yet much of today's spectrum policy evidence is anchored to well-understood sectors like IMT, FWA, PMSE and direct-to-device satellite. This study deliberately looks beyond those established areas to examine "blue sky" use cases into sectors with genuine emerging connectivity needs that have not yet received focused policy attention.
Use cases under consideration
Our preliminary shortlist covers five areas. We want to hear which of these you think deserve closer examination, and whether there are other candidates we should consider.
- Local public sector operations: Local authority operational communications, social care providers and public health logistics — services that often rely on ageing or fragmented radio infrastructure.
- Smaller transport and logistics niches: Regional bus fleets, last-mile logistics depots and sub-major ports — the segments that fall between Ofcom's current transport and rail focus and the smallest operators.
- Built environment and facilities management: Large campuses, hospitals, universities and business parks with complex, ad hoc private wireless and Wi-Fi estates that grow organically and unevenly.
- Agri-food and rural production supply chains: Small processors, cold-chain warehousing and livestock monitoring, the parts of rural connectivity beyond headline coverage programmes.
- SME-dominated industrial clusters: Specialist manufacturing parks and repair and maintenance contractors that increasingly require deterministic connectivity for automation, without a strong trade association to represent them.
What we would like to know
Whether your interest is technical, policy or commercial, we welcome views on any of the following questions:
- Which future communications use cases are most likely to create genuinely new spectrum requirements?
- In which sectors, environments or operating models might these use cases emerge?
- What are the likely connectivity characteristics — coverage, capacity, latency, resilience, mobility and density?
- Will the use case need dedicated, shared, locally licensed or opportunistic spectrum access?
- What signals or indicators would help us distinguish realistic longer-term demand from more speculative possibilities?
We are equally interested in perspectives on trends cutting across all sectors that could redefine spectrum demand in ways our current frameworks do not anticipate.
Share your input
We welcome brief bullet-point suggestions, illustrative examples or references to relevant work in your sector are all welcome. Your input will directly shape the study design and the evidence base Coleago develops for Ofcom and DSIT.
Please submit your responses by Thursday 14 May to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected].
Tales Gaspar
Tales has a background in law and economics, with previous experience in the regulation of new technologies and infrastructure.
Sophie Greaves
Sophie Greaves is Associate Director for Digital Infrastructure at techUK, overseeing the Telecoms Programme, the Data Centres Programme, and the UK Spectrum Policy Forum.
