Satirical news reporter Jonathan Pie backs battle for fairer mobile coverage
Jonathan Pie, fictitious British news reporter famous for his political rants, has shown his support for a fairer allocation of mobile 4G spectrum in an impassioned video created by Gravity Road.
It’s part of a Three’s ‘Make the Air Fair’ campaign that calls on consumers to help urge Ofcom to implement a 30% spectrum cap before the next auction. A cap would encourage greater competition instead of putting the power in the hands of too few, and a better service for mobile users, the campaign claims.
Currently BT/EE own 45% of 4G in the UK and is planning to extend this to 95% of the UK’s landmass by 2020. Vodafone holds 28%, O2 15% and Three 12%.
Chief executive of Three Dave Dyson said last year: "[Ofcom] has allowed BT and Vodafone to stockpile valuable mobile airwaves and put genuine choice for consumers at risk."
Gravity Road developed the script with Tom Walker, the actor behind Jonathan Pie, marking the first time the character has worked with any partners.
The film racked up over a million views across different platforms, with 250k on Facebook. It pushed the petition to over 170,000 signatures.
Ofcom today (1 February) closed the public consultation for the 2017 spectrum auction.