WRC-15 Focus on 700 MHz Band Spurs Broader Look at Pros and Cons of Spectrum Harmonization

BRUSSELS -- The idea of harmonizing spectrum nationally, at the European level and even globally, is gaining ground but won’t be easy, speakers said Tuesday at a Forum Europe spectrum management conference. Europe and other regions are focused on the 700 MHz band, whose ultimate use will be a major topic at the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2015, but other bands may also be suitable candidates, they said. But some cautioned that harmonization must be better defined and that it isn’t always a good thing.

One key issue for the European Commission is a decision on when to use the 700 MHz band on a harmonized basis throughout Europe, said Roberto Viola, deputy director general of Directorate General Connect. Some countries are already planning to release it, but the EC doesn’t want a repeat of what happened with the release of 800 MHz spectrum from the digital switchover, he said. The long time lag in releasing the digital dividend spectrum created a lot of confusion in the market, he said. The EC wants a “Big Bang date” that’s possibly more coordinated with all stakeholders, he said.

Harmonizing spectrum brings several challenges, said Arijandas Sliupas, vice minister for transport and communications for the government of Lithuania, which takes over the EU Presidency July 1. A major stumbling block is cross-border coordination, he said. In the 800 MHz band, 15 of 27 EU countries have transborder coordination problems and there’s a risk that the same issues will arise with the 700 MHz band, he said. Lithuania wants a clear planning strategy for the band across Europe, he said.

The EU radio spectrum policy program sets various targets that are helpful for herding European countries toward common objectives, said Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) Chairman Gilles Brégant, who is also the director-general of French spectrum regulator Agence nationale des fréquences. Coordination is key, he said. One open question is how to enforce spectrum harmonization, he said. The 800 MHz band has been harmonized but actually achieving that standardization is troublesome, he said. Enforcement of harmonization will be a “burning issue,” he said.

Mexican regulator Cofetel decided in 2011 to analyze ways to use the 700 MHz band, said Cofetel Mexico Regulatory Policy Chief Luis Lucatero. It began by examining the anatomy of handsets, and found that it’s likely that smartphone handsets will eventually be as cheap as $30, he said. The regulator then decided that that would be a good way to connect all Mexican citizens, and then looked at existing schemes in the U.S., Asia and elsewhere for using the 700 MHz band, he said. Cofetel quantified the supply of connections that could be achieved with each band plan, and decided the U.S. version would take too long and be too expensive, he said. Mexico then lobbied intensively to make Latin American and other nations accept the Asia-Pacific band plan, Lucatero said. That spectrum has the best chance of being the most global band ever, and it’s good that Europe is showing some interest in the Asia-Pacific plan, he said.

But harmonization isn’t always good, said Intel Associate General Counsel and Executive Director of Communications Policy Peter Pitsch. If a large portion of 1 GHz spectrum were made available to an entity that could do whatever it wanted with it and had pan-European reach, it would use it for LTE, he said. Harmonization is great, but so are innovation and competition, he said. Non-harmonized spectrum is better than no spectrum, he said. Global harmonization may not be possible, he said. In WRC-15 preparations, nearly every band under consideration for standardization has some country or region opposed to its use for International Mobile Telecommunications, the 3G technology standard, he said.

Mobile operators want a more coordinated pan-EU approach to spectrum, but accompanying technical and regulatory issues must also be harmonized, said GSM Association Senior Director-Spectrum Regulation Roberto Ercole. Band plans, particularly for the 700 MHz band, must be harmonized so that Europe is not on its own, he said. The EU must do what Mexico did and reach out to other countries and regions at WRC-15 to agree on a 700 MHz band plan, he said.

"Harmonization” is being used as a catchphrase when it covers many things, said Gerry Oberst, SES senior vice president for global regulatory affairs and government strategy. The satellite sector is already harmonized, through the ITU master international frequency register and numerous European decisions, but needs better enforcement for harmonization to work, he said. One example is the S band (2.2-2.3 GHz), which is harmonized for mobile satellite services but whose service rules remain subject to national rules on fees, which services can be provided and so forth, he said. The best level of harmonization from the perspective of the satellite sector is global, with spectrum usage and service rules all standardized, he said. Europe should go for globally harmonized spectrum, not just for satellites but in other bands, he said.

The public safety community also wants harmonized spectrum, said Hans Borgonjen of the Dutch Police, chairman of the Tetra + Critical Communications Association. The goal is to be part of a global LTE ecosystem, he said. The 700 MHz band is the “only option” for a worldwide public safety solution, he said. The GSMA’s Ercole disagreed, saying LTE is beneficial for safety services, but that doesn’t mean the spectrum has to come from the band that’s best suited for commercial offerings. Besides, he said, the U.S. uses the band for something else, meaning it can’t be leveraged there.

Asked what the RSPG thinks about the “siren calls” to harmonize the band to the Asia-Pacific/Latin American approach, Brégant said the EU is seeking a way to take advantage of spectrum that’s already harmonized because it offers good economies of scale and opportunities for new services. But that goal must be balanced with Europe’s complex landscape, where there are many services available and a long history of band arrangements, he said.