ITU World Radio Conference 2007 (WRC-07), Geneva
Spectrum Allocation for globally harmonised IMT-Advanced (4G) a (the) key topic.
>> ITU Faces an Uphill Task on Spectrum Harmonisation
Gavin Patterson
Informa Telecoms & Media
Telecoms.com
15 October 2007
telecoms.com
The ability of those attending the International Telecommunications Union-led World Radio Conference 2007 (WRC-07) to identify spectrum to use for globally harmonised IMT-Advanced - 4G - services looks uncertain, even before the meeting starts later this month in Geneva.
World regulators and government bodies plan to meet to discuss which spectrum they want to allocate and identify for all communications services, including the crucial identification for mobile services, IMT-Advanced.
Spectrum identification is a crucial issue for all players in the industry, which are aiming for at least 400MHz of spectrum to be made available in each country.
Operators need to know which spectrum they will have access to and how much they'll be able to use, so that they can plan road maps for the migration of services and budget for future license awards. And vendors need to know what spectrum will be available so that they can plan technology-development strategies.
A key goal for the ITU at the WRC-07 is to identify spectrum worldwide to facilitate roaming services for end-users, bring economies of scale for vendors and provide certainty to operators about the direction of their businesses.
At the ITU's WRC-07 preparatory conference in March, candidate spectrum for 4G wireless services was narrowed down to the 450-470MHz, 470-862MHz and 3.4-4.2GHz bands.
But opinion is sharply divided over which spectrum to identify for 4G, both between regions and among countries within regions.
Within regions, countries and official bodies are split over specific allocations for 4G, because countries have varying assignments of spectrum, making it difficult to identify harmonized spectrum for 4G.
If opinions can't be brought together in Geneva next month, the danger is that future mobile services, such as IMT-Advanced, won't work on a worldwide basis to enable roaming and to enable equipment to be manufactured for the mass market.
Last month, key European industry bodies - comprising the European Telecommunications Network Operators Organization, the UMTS Forum and the operator-led Next Generation Mobile Networks alliance - expressed "disappointment" with the proposal put forward by the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) as part of its European Common Proposal to the WRC-07.
CEPT said that it would propose at WRC-07 that the decision on the allocation of spectrum in the UHF band (470-862MHz) be postponed until the World Radio Conference 2011.
The WRC-07 "offers a unique opportunity to bring some harmonization and innovative uses in this spectrum range on a worldwide basis," the bodies said in a joint press release. "The CEPT European Common Proposal is not in line with proposals from the European mobile industry and from other regions, in particular those from the Americas and Asia Pacific, which favour the opening of the band to mobile applications at the WRC-07."
The industry bodies claim that an opposition by CEPT to a decision on the UHF band at WRC-07 would have "a very negative effect on worldwide harmonization of mobile communications."
Disagreement is so pervasive globally that the European industry will almost certainly be joined in its disappointment by its counterparts around the world after the WRC-07 concludes in November. Developed regions want to allocate spectrum in the 3.4-4.2GHz range, but developing regions want an allocation in the 450-470MHz and 470-862MHz bands, because they offer better coverage.
At the same time, some countries have agreed to support a delay in identifying spectrum for 4G in 2011, preferring to wait for the results of studies into spectrum availability after TV broadcasters switch from analogue to digital, producing a "digital dividend."
For instance, it's not just Europe that's having problems with the 470-862MHz band. In Asia Pacific, the 470-862MHz band is already allocated to mobile and is highly sought-after by digital-television providers.
And allocating the 3.4-4.2GHz band for 4G also poses the WRC great difficulty, because it is extensively used by fixed-satellite-service providers.
Because of the difficulties facing the 3.4-4.2GHz band, several possible decisions could arise from the WRC-07 meeting.
The most probable outcome is that a provisional allocation for 4G spectrum will be made this year for the 3.4-3.7GHz and 3.8-4.2GHz bands, with a definitive allocation taking place in 2011.
This would amount to an unwelcome delay for an industry that's seeking certainty as soon as possible about how to formulate business plans.
Because each country and each region has such a diverse range of requirements for spectrum, the ITU can unfortunately hope to make only a working compromise on its goal of allocating spectrum globally on a harmonized basis. ###
- Eric - |
