Spectrum


frequency networks could deliver further im- provements. “As a result of essentially squeezing TV up a bit, it would also be possible to free up spectrum at 700MHz for wireless broadband”, Mr Unger said. With 600MHz now vacant as part of the UK’s


digital dividend, Ofcom’s plan is – in the next cou- ple of years – to offer the band on an interim ba- sis for high-definition television using DVB-T2. With attractive new services for the public, this would drive take-up of DVB-T2-ready receivers (which, as yet, are few in number), preparing the ground for a re-farming of 700MHz from 2018. “Globally, there is a shift to 700MHz for mo-


bile”, Mr Unger explained. “It’s already the case that 700MHz is being used in the US, in the Far East.... So 700MHz for mobile feels like the natu- ral way to go, given the global harmonization of that band.” Addressing the panel during a pause for dis-


cussion, Tim Cull, representing the FCS, said: “I would point out that 700MHz is much more than just a discussion on impact on DTT and so on. It’s also the primary opportunity to address spectrum issues surrounding professional com- munications.” He added: “I just wish to make sure that everybody is aware that it’s not just the emergency services, very important though that is; it’s all the other services that keep our society going.”


Playing with TV Underpinning Ofcom’s recent thinking about 700MHz is a technical study commissioned by the regulator from Real Wireless. Professor Simon Saunders, of Real Wireless, told the audience that the 800MHz and 2·6MHz bands in Ofcom’s current auction would not be enough for mobile. “If you don’t make 700MHz available, there is


scope for something that you might call a spec- trum crunch, or at least a rapid increase in the costs of delivering incremental capacity in a time period in the early 2020s”, he said. “If you can bring 700MHz into the equation early – for ex- ample, the 2018 date that’s been discussed as pos- sibly the earliest that it could be imagined – there is a substantial difference in the cost of delivering those networks, or alternatively a substantial in- crease in the service that can be delivered.” Richard Lindsay-Davies, chief executive of the


Digital TV Group, resisted these territorial claims on 700, warning: “Playing around with the na- tion’s favourite TV platform is probably a fairly dangerous thing to do and we should be very care- ful how we do it. Enlarging on this, he said: “Even though digital


terrestrial television is the main platform for peo- ple’s main television in their homes, actually it has also very, very significant penetration on second and third televisions for consumers that are using satellite or cable TV as well – so it has a very sig- nificant role in the market.”


LAND mobile January 2013


Roadmap for future UHF usage in the UK (diagram from Steve Unger, Ofcom)


Katie Miller, a business acceleration partner


at Alcatel-Lucent, was in no doubt about the value of 700MHz to DTT. But she observed: “Mobile is already in the video distribution business – at least in technology terms, if not in economic terms.” Drawing on real usage data from mobile op-


erators’ networks, Alcatel-Lucent’s crystal ball gazers had modelled future demand for mobile data and were predicting a growth of 30–60 times over the coming five years. “Some of the things they found are things like, an iPhone user is using 10 times more data than a BlackBerry user”, she said. “If you’ve got an Android phone, chances are you consume twice as much data as an iPhone user; and if you’ve got a tablet, you are probably getting through three times as much.” Assessing possible strategies for network op-


erators, including Wi-Fi offload and a move to small-cell architectures, she concluded: “If you add all of that together, you are still looking at a growth of at least five times today’s levels that is not accommodated by any other techniques that we’ve got access to.”


Sticks in the ground A plea for wireless microphone and talkback frequencies to sustain the UK’s flourishing programme-making and special events (PMSE) community was put forward by Andrew Lilly- white, who speaks for the British Entertainment Industry Radio Group. “If the 700MHz band is to be cleared and made available for mobile use, there’s obviously going to be less ‘white space’ in the remaining UHF spectrum that’s still being used by DTT, and that’s going to be a problem for PMSE”, he said. While emphasizing that PMSE was not mere-


ly about entertainment – schools, universities, business and conferences such as the present one all benefited from it too – Mr Lillywhite revealed that its spectrum requirement could be quite substantial. “8MHz gets you about one- tenth of Strictly and even less X Factor”, he said. Te case for a protected 700MHz slot for the


emergency services was argued with passion by ‘Jeppe’ Jepsen, board member of the Tetra and Critical Communications Association, under the slogan, ‘Spectrum saves lives’. “Tis is about money, it’s about value, it’s about safety, and it’s a chance in a lifetime”, he urged.


Tere was a need to protect our citizens, in fire,


accident or medical emergency, at major public events, and in natural disasters – situations in which the public wireless networks were often congested and might even sustain damage. “My stick in the ground is that a portion of the


700MHz is needed to enable wireless Intranet for these organizations that deliver essential services to society”, Mr Jepsen declared.


Casual browsing Pondering the surging demand forecasts for mo- bile data, Dr Chris Doyle, founder of the con- sultants Apex Economics, wondered how far we should go to accommodate them. “Do we con- tinue down the track of forever meeting the use of browsing casually?”, he asked. “If you look at the price people pay per megabyte in all markets, it’s diminishing considerably.... So the question arises: perhaps we can use the price mechanism. Companies that are managing mobile networks clearly need to think about this.” But a contrasting view came from Philip Bates,


of Analysys Mason, which had recently completed a study for two Government departments. “You won’t be surprised to hear that when we looked in purely economic terms, we found that public mobile communications and broadcasting were the two areas of spectrum use that contributed the most to the UK economy”, he said. “Public mobile generates revenues in the UK of about £20 billion a year, even if it is falling slowly over time, and it directly employs about 75000 people.” Broadcasting was the UK’s next most important spectrum user in economic terms, generating an- nual revenues of about £16 billion a year, sustain- ing about 40000 jobs and delivering some £11 billion in economic welfare benefits. Tus it was important to balance the needs of these two com- munities carefully. “We are inclined to think that the forthcoming


release of the 800MHz and 2·6GHz bands to- gether with the MoD’s planned release of 2·3GHz and 3·4GHz should provide sufficient additional spectrum to support the expected growth in mo- bile data for the rest of this decade”, Mr Bates summed up. “However, making the 700MHz band available for mobile use towards the end of the decade would support further growth over the next 10 years and also facilitate international 4G roaming.” Looking beyond 700MHz, and beyond the


2020s, he foresaw increased use of bands above 5GHz for indoor purposes and, perhaps con- troversially, geographic sharing of the spectrum between the MoD and mobile operators. “Con- sequently we believe that 700MHz is very much an issue for this decade and beyond 700MHz is an issue for the next decade”, he added. “Some of us may have retired by then – but, as I am sure we all know, spectrum issues take a long time to plan, so it’s a good idea to start thinking ahead.”


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