A Broadside Analysis of Spectrum Status in South A Broadside Analysis of Spectrum Status in South AfricaAfrica

Road to Spectrum Reform ...

From Planning to Delivery ...

Presentation for the Parliamentarians

By Dumisa Ngwenya, dngwenya@icasa.org.za

22

Overview of the PresentationOverview of the Presentation

– Radio frequency spectrum as one critical elements to realise national strategic objectives on Broadband

– International initiatives and trends on BWA spectrum

– Spectrum Licensing status in South Africa

– Opportunities from DTT rollout

– Conclusions

33

Abbreviations and some key wordsAbbreviations and some key words

WARC – World Administrative Radio Conference

WRC – World Radio Conference

FPLMTS - Future Public Land Mobile Telecommunications Systems (Precursor to IMT-2000)

PCS – Personal Communications Services

GSM—formerly Groupe Speciale Mobile

MSS – Mobile Satellite Service

ITU – International Telecommunications Union

CEPT – European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations

BWA – Broadband Wireless Access

IMT – International Mobile Telecommunications

FDD – Frequency Division Duplexing (Paired)

TDD – Time Division Duplexing (Unpaired)

PPDR – Public Protection and Disaster Recovery

RATG – Radio Access Technique Group

DTT – Digital Terrestrial Television

44

SA Government Strategic ObjectiveSA Government Strategic Objective

The SA government has identified that the ICT industry does not contribute fully to the economy due to dominance of monopoly suppliers, lack of competition and weak regulation

Outcome 6 is identified as “An Efficient Competitive and Responsive Economic Infrastructure Network” and relevant outputs are as:

– Output 1: Improving competition and regulation including removing barrier to entry

– Output 5: Communication and Information technology Broadband cost and penetration and usage Digital divide and rural-urban divide DTT rollout

This has been made key issue by the President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma. Other presidents in the world have taken the same stance – e.g. President Obama in the USA.

55

How can the challenge be faced?How can the challenge be faced?

Broadband wireless access which talks to BWA spectrum

This requires policy and regulatory considerations around spectrum allocation methods and regional and global harmonisation

Migration to Digital Terrestrial Television will bring about more opportunities in broadcasting and broadband market by freeing spectrum and driving convergence at different levels – this is referred to as digital dividends

66

International InitiativesInternational Initiatives

A total of 1167 MHz spectrum for BWA has been identified international through the ITU. Most of this spectrum has been harmonised either internationally or regionally.

However, it has been established that the world will require more spectrum before year 2020 (an addition of 553 MHz by year 2020 of which 133 MHz must be available by year 2015).

The presidency’s office in the USA is spearheading a program to search for 500 MHz spectrum for BWA that should be made available by year 2020. This program has been endorsed by the congress. The FCC and the NTIA are working together for realisation of the program.

77

Spectrum allocated to BWA ITU-R Spectrum allocated to BWA ITU-R Region 1 (EMEA)Region 1 (EMEA)

1710 1885 2025 2110 2200 2690250024002300

ISM

(W

iFi)

MSS component

36003400

790 862 960

470450

Terrestrial TV Broadcasting

WARC-92 WRC-2000 WRC-2007

88

LICENSING STATUS OF BWA LICENSING STATUS OF BWA SPECTRUM IN SOUTH SPECTRUM IN SOUTH AFRICAAFRICA

99

BWA bands in South AfricaBWA bands in South Africa

South Africa has adopted almost all ITU-R designated bands for BWA and are as follows:

– 450 - 470 MHz – suitable for coverage– 790 – 960 MHz – suitable for coverage– 1710 – 2200 MHz (excluding 2025 – 2110 MHz)– 2300 – 2400 MHz– 2500 – 2690 MHz– 3400 – 3600 MHz

Licensing status for each band in South Africa is shown in the few succeeding slides. The following color coding is used:

– RED - designated but not fully licensed for BWA – GREEN – designated and licensed for BWA– BLUE – licensed for BWA but some re-arranging might

be required

1010

Licensing of 450 – 470 MHz and Licensing of 450 – 470 MHz and

Fixed Links PMR/PAMRSF

450

460

454

453

Fixed Links PMR/PAMRSF

470

464

463

GSM900

79

0 M

Hz

86

2

88

0

96

0

82

7.8

83

2.8

87

2.8

Neotel

MTN

CellC

GSM-R

ISM band

TV

CH

61

TV

CH

62

TV

CH

69

· ·

·

1111

Licensing status of 1800 and 2100 Licensing status of 1800 and 2100 MHz bandsMHz bands

Fixed Links18

80

20

10

19

80

19

20

20

25

21

10

21

70

22

00

MSS component (paired)

17

10

.3

17

22

.7

17

35

.1

17

47

.9

17

60

.3

17

72

.7

17

85

.0

17

97

.0

18

05

.3

18

17

.7

18

30

.1

18

42

.9

18

55

.3

18

67

.7

18

80

.0

17

87

.0

Legacy Fixed Links

1212

Licensing status of 2300, 2600 and Licensing status of 2300, 2600 and 3500 MHz bands3500 MHz bands

Sentech (50 MHz) 125 MHz unlicensed

2500 2570 2690

34

00

MH

z

34

14

34

28

34

56

34

84

34

98

35

14

35

28

35

56

35

84

35

98

Current used for fixed links and others services

2300 2400

1313

In conclusionIn conclusion

We have about 500 MHz spectrum identified for BWA that is not licensed and 576 licenced (that is about 50% is unlicensed)

There are about 450 individual ECS and ECNS licensees came after the famous Altech case

Therefore there is an need to licence the 500 MHz spectrum

We need to start identifying additional spectrum for BWA by 2015

At least 100 MHz of the additional spectrum must be below 1 GHz to enable coverage and hence universal access

About

50

0

MH

z availa

ble

1414

Migration to DTT and DVB-T2?Migration to DTT and DVB-T2?

Why DVB-T2– Enable more coverage and higher data rate through use of:

Low Density Parity Check for error correction coding and the use of rotated constellations

Multi antenna technology to provide diversity and exploitation of the earth’s curvature

– Improved functionality enabled by multiple “Physical Layer Pipes” which separate configuration of each delivery stream

Opportunities– Fewer frequencies for more services (a 1/8 of current will be required for 5

fold the current number of services) – i.e. More freed spectrum, more choice and less cost

– Therefore can make additional spectrum below 1 GHz available for BWA– Ability to stream IP based traffic and use of “white spaces” – providing

another platform for BWA– More opportunities for innovation in programming and distribution –

leading to the industry contributing to the economy– Physical Layer Pipes can allow localised or regional broadcasting which

would facilitate community TV broadcasting and local content

1515

How do we assign spectrum?How do we assign spectrum?

First Come First Serve – not suitable for high demand and limited spectrum

Competitive processes (market based) – Lottery, “Beauty contest”, Auction, Spectrum pooling, some hybrid

Some Prons and Cons– “Beauty contest” and Auction can both fulfil developmental goals if

designed properly (e.g. Through set asides) – economic equilibrium may be the same

– “Beauty contest” more costly and time consuming and prone to human error and subjectivity – more prone to litigation

– Auction allows the market to determine the value (utility function)– Spectrum pooling good for extremely limited spectrum or niche

spectrum

Some Auction methods– First price sealed bid– Second price sealed bid– Simultaneous multi-round auction

1616

Defining Auctioning Problem Defining Auctioning Problem Mathematically (example)Mathematically (example)

Given F(x): F Number of new entrants

Then the goal is to:

Maximize F(x)

Subject to:xnew 0.3 xtotal

xmax x xmin

Where x is any amount of spectrum

xnew is the spectrum to new entrants

xold is spectrum to incumbents

xtotal = xnew + xold is the total spectrum addressed

xmax is the maximum allowable spectrum for an entity

xmin is the minimum allowable spectrum for an entity

1717

CONCLUSIONSCONCLUSIONS

1818

JZ Theory of Economics (paraphrased)

If people are hungry, food is what they need and food is what they

must have

– From Planning to Delivery

1919

Key spectrum strategic intents for the Key spectrum strategic intents for the next 3 Yearsnext 3 Years

Licensing of available BWA spectrum– Re-organising GSM900 band– Licensing of 790 – 862, 1880 – 1920, 2010 – 2025 and

2500 - 2600 MHz bands– Frequency migration from 2300-2400 MHz and licensing– 450 – 470 MHz decision (will be part of a colloquium)

Management of DTT spectrum rollout– DTT-DTT re-planning and identification of BWA

spectrum

Review of the radio frequency plan– Frequency migration strategy– Additional 500 MHz by year 2020 of which 100 MHz

must be below 1 GHz by 2015– 10 year roadmap on spectrum (colloquium)

2020

THANK YOU ...THANK YOU ...

QUESTIONSQUESTIONS