Wireless broadband is clearly at a crossroads. Convergence is taking place between the technology road maps of WiMAX/802.16 and advanced 3GPP, 3.5G-4G cellular systems. These technologies are on a collision course and will provide similar bandwidth and significant market overlap by 2010.
The evolution of spectrum availability and overall regulation will greatly impact the future of mobile broadband wireless systems. In this article, Maravedis provides a thorough review of the current spectrum and regulation activity worldwide as well as the trends to be expected.
Maravedis spent more than six months directly surveying regulators in the fifty largest economies in the world. This aspect of the research and the construction of a detailed database reference is by far the most thorough in the industry. Maravedis fulfills the challenging task to contact, collect and continuously update its database because many customers have come to depend upon this resource to determine product development and marketing efforts.
Maravedis is now the only independent research firm to have in hand this in-depth information of BWA/WiMAX spectrum. In light of the great impact that spectrum availability and services regulation will have on the success of Broadband Wireless and WiMAX, this research provide Maravedis with a unique and privileged view of the spectrum reality. Our data is reliable since it comes directly from the regulators themselves that we expect to have the most up to date information on spectrum allocation, assignment, and licensing rules.
Fixed Broadband Wireless Spectrum
3.5GHz Band - The 3.5GHz band is the most widely available band allocated for broadband wireless access worldwide, except for the United States despite recent opening at 3650MHz. Covering 300MHz of bandwidth, from 3.3 to 3.6GHz and in some case up to 3.8GHz, this band offers great potential for fixed applications whether backhaul or last mile access.
3.5GHz remains a band allocated mostly for fixed only services in 77% of the countries surveyed. However the regulators are starting to revise their positions to allow portable services in a first step towards allowing full mobility at 3.5GHz. 13% of countries surveyed have loosened up their requirements for fixed only services at 3.5GHz. Regulators recognize that the line distinguishing BWA and 3G is blurring and may converge in the future.
5GHz U-NII & WRC Bands - The Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) bands have three major frequency bands: low and mild U-NII bands (5150 - 5350) (802.11a), WRC (new) (5470 - 5725), and upper U-NII / ISM band (5725 - 5850). Wi-Fi exists in the lower and middle U-NII bands, which have demonstrated viability for BWA. Many overlapping
5GHz frequency bands earmarked for BWA growth exist around the world. The newly allocated World Radio Conference (WRC) 5470 to 5725MHz band adds significant license-exempt bandwidth. Most metropolitan deployments are in the upper U-NII 5725 to 5850 band because there is less interference there, i.e. Wi-Fi and the outdoor power allowance are in the higher 2 to 4W range as compared to only 1W in the lower and middle U-NII bands.
MMDS - The Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS) spectrum includes 31 channels of 6MHz spacing in the 2500 to 2690MHz range and includes the Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS) in the US. This spectrum has been significantly under-utilized for its original instructional TV purpose, and has been allocated for BWA service in a few countries including the United States, Brazil, Mexico and Canada.
Spectrum such as:
- License-exempt sharing of television broadcast spectrum
- 700 MHz
- 902-928 MHz (US and Canada)
- 2.40 - 2.4835 GHz
- 5.250 - 5.350 GHz (mid-UNII band)
- 5.470 - 5.725 GHz (proposed additional 255 MHz in US)
- 24 GHz
- 60 GHz
- 70-80-90 GHz
are not (yet) addressed by WiMAX's plans to focus system profiles to use OFDM modulation, operating in the 3.5 GHz licensed (non-US), 5.8 GHz license-exempt, and 2.5 GHz licensed bands, in that order.
Future Spectrum for BWA/WiMAX
Additional bands are being considered today by different regions around the world for the deployment of WiMAX and other similar broadband wireless access services. In Japan the 4.9GHz - 5.0GHz band will be used after 2007 while the 5.47GHz - 5.725GHz band is also being considered for future use. The first one will require a license for BS deployment and will support 5MHz, 10MHz and 20MHz bandwidths, while the second one will possibly not require a license and would support 20MHz bandwidths. In the US, the 700MHz is slowly being freed by broadcasters to allow BWA services and the 450MHz is seeing renewed interest for mobile WiMAX due to its great propagation characteristics
3.6 -4.2 GHz:
US will finalize allocation of 3650-3700 MHz in 1H'05
Some manufacturers & service providers starting to look at at 3.6-4.2 GHz for 4 G
UK has already has some FWA licenses in 3.6-3.8 GHz
CEPT (Europe) and France issued 3.4-3.8 GHz consultation in Q4'04
Malaysia issued 3.4-4.2 GHz consultation in 2004
Block Sizes
The situation varies form region to region and form countries within the same region. In Europe, many blocks assigned are 20/25//28MHz/ or 14MHz wide. Some countries like Norway assigned narrower blocks (2X 3.5MHz). The largest blocks we have found were in Sweden with 2X70MHz. In Asia 10.5Mhz blocks in duplex are common (China, Honk Kong). In CALA, most blocks assigned are in the 25MHz range.
FDD and TDD Status
During our research talking to 50 regulators worldwide, we came up with the following results:
Exhibit 1: FDD and TDD Regulation
We believe the trend among regulators will be "technology neutral" to provide the flexibility to operators to deploy the solutions they need.
What about spectrum availability for WiMAX Mobility?
Regulators recognize that the line distinguishing BWA and 3G is blurring and may converge in future. However, regulators must honor their commitment made in the 3G auctions, to not allocate spectrum for 3G mobile communication services before a determined period of time around 2006-2007. Numerous regulators have adopted from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) definition of "pedestrian mobility speed" for 3G technologies to differentiate between the two.
To be specific, this means that wireless broadband operators may only offer fixed or pedestrian mobile services. Operators are not allowed to provide mobile services at vehicular speeds for now. This restriction will be lifted once the 3G moratorium ends.
More liberal countries where full mobility is allowed include USA (2.5GHz), Canada (3.5 and 2.5GHz), Australia, Korea (2.3GHz WiBro).
While most of Europe the band 2.5-2.69 GHz is exclusively reserved for UMTS mobile services and is therefore not available to BWA/WIMAX service providers. In other parts of the world, initiatives such as the ITU WP8F, are pushing to allow interoperability bodies between UMTS and OFDM in these mobile services.
The ITU is organized into three main sectors. Each sector is broken up into study groups that carry out the majority of the technical work. All ITU guidelines are developed according to a formal process. The study groups address particular technical "questions," which are technology areas that warrant further research. Once a topic has been sufficiently researched and a decision has been made about how to proceed, the group submits a formal "recommendation." This recommendation is then shared with all of the external ITU partners, such as SDOs and national governments.
Two groups within the ITU specifically engage in helping to define the next generation of mobile wireless (FIG. 1). These two groups include:
Working Party 8F (WP8F) in section ITU-R
Special Study Group (SSG) "IMT 2000 and Beyond" in section ITU-T
WP8F is focused on the overall radio-system aspects of 4G, such as radio interfaces, radio-access networks (RANs), spectrum issues, service and traffic characteristics, and market estimations. The SSG "IMT-2000 and Beyond" is primarily responsible for the network or wireline aspects of future wireless systems including wireless Internet, convergence of mobile and fixed networks, mobility management, internetworking, and interoperability.
Beyond the regulation constraints, WiMAX needs lower bands to economically deploy networks that will provide full mobility. Higher than 3GHz bands are not suitable for mobile networks as proper coverage would require too many base stations compared to sub 1GHz bands. The WiMAX regulatory group is working towards influencing the regulatory bodies worldwide to open up bands for WiMAX mobility. Those bands could include the 700 MHz and 450 MHz. The regulatory working group is also working to create an environment to support eventual global roaming for nomadic & mobile WiMAX devices
The WiMAX regulatory group is working towards influencing the regulatory bodies worldwide to open up bands for WiMAX mobility. Those bands could include the 700MHs and 450MHz. The regulatory working group is also working to create an environment to support eventual global roaming for nomadic & mobile WiMAX devices.
About the Author:
Adlane Fellah, MBA, is CEO and founder of Maravedis Inc. a world-leader in market research and analysis, specializing in BWA and VoIP markets . He is the author of the newly released landmark report "WiMAX and Broadband Wireless (Sub-11Ghz) Worldwide Market Analysis and Trends 2005-2010" .He is a leading industry analyst on wireless broadband technologies and recently conducted an extensive survey of regulators worldwide to build a unique BWA/WiMAX license holders & Spectrum database.
