Draft Revision 2 26th Feb
Wireless Advisory Group – Commercial Sub-Group
Executive Summary
The growth in licence exempt use in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands is an established fact. It
is enabling the rapid growth of new services that are bringing social and economic benefit to
all parts of the population. However, there are coverage restrictions for the 5 GHz bands A
and B and therefore early release of the 5 GHz band C (referred to in this report as Band C),
will complete the range of enabling technologies by providing spectrum for outdoor, long
range, broadband services. It is these possibilities that characterise Band C and sets it apart
from the existing bands while at the same time it complements their application. [why is
Band A and B not sufficient for these services ? Coverage is a clear distinction for need for
Band C]
Band C will enable broadband services to be provided to areas and subscribers that are
beyond the technical and economic reach of wire and broadband cable. Example of services
that can be provided using Band C technologies include high speed Internet, community
networks, business and residential, educational services, health services and community
based security monitoring there are many others that [we don’t know of other services
sounds too negative – then why are we asking for spect. for unknown?]
The conclusion of the Commercial Group is that any delay to opening Band C will prevent
the development of many highly beneficial services.
This report presents the commercial drivers and opportunities for the efficient use of the
band. It focuses on the key issues that will ensure the long term success of existing and the
new businesses that are set up to provide these services. It also addresses means to
overcome barriers that may arise for the commercialiaztion of Band C [which are not clear
?].
The commericial group agreed that due to the sensitivity of business and market plans, it is
the remit of the individual businesses wishing to develop services to demonstrate their
viability rather then this commercial group providing and publishing full details on growths,
financials, markets, subscibers segments etc. However, comments from a mulitude of UK
companies and organizations representing, manufacturer, service provider, subscriber,
content providers, and other interested companies are implicit in the views and
recommendations expressed in the report. The group observed a high level of enquiries and
interest for spectrum allocations which is clear evidence that large numbers wish to deploy
outdoor broadband wireless services.
Opening Band C will:
 Proivde coverage to areas that are unserved or underserved and are likely to remain
so
 Enhance the viability of the complementary licence exempt bands and will enable the
community of small business users to compete with larger corporate businesses by
providing affordable broadband access.
 Give newcomers an opportunity to compete with established operators
Recommendations
Based on the collective views of members of WAG-C, the Commercial Group recommends
that:
1
It is in the public interest that The Band be opened as soon as possible
2
Opening the band should not be delayed by waiting for the development of
standards
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3
All types of service, voice, data and video, should be permitted in the band
4
Interim Regulations should take note of international regulatory developments
within Europe and at the ITU
5
Regulations should allow flexibility for Band C to be used for self backhaul
6
Regulations should remain unchanged for a minimum of 3 years in order to
support technology over its natural life span
7
Interim Regulations should take note of likely technical developments
8
The aim should be to develop and provide systems that can be deployed and
used by non-technical users
Opportunities
Unique qualities
Band C is unlike the other licence exempt bands in that with its higher power and bandwidth
it can provide outdoor coverage and broadband connectivity to link local communities rapidly
and economically. The equipment will be a consumer product designed for flexible
deployment either by the end users or by service providers. It trades low cost and ease of
use against exclusive access to spectrum (and its associated protected Quality of Service).
This opens a new window of opportunity for the development of new services and new
communities.
Established technology
While many extant and proposed wireless access systems use state of the art technology
the licence exempt products are developments of consumer devices that are already in
volume production and are in widespread use in many countries. This will enable low cost
products to be developed quickly so that new services can be launched on proven technical
platforms.
Demonstrated demand
There are a number of public domain sources of evidence for the demand for licence exempt
spectrum including Radiocommunications Agency data on applications for licences and
commercial databases on sales volumes. These range from the sales of similar devices,
802.11b, to the registered requests for Broadband Fixed Wireless Access spectrum licences
from operators at both national and local level.
Annexes to this report address the specific areas of the Digital Divide and of Broadband
Access in Rural Communities.
Complementary to mobile services
Terrestrial cellular technologies such as GPRS and 3G offer increasingly high speed
connectivity to people on the move and to do so must offer wide area coverage. Band C is
also capable of offering area coverage by the use of linked cells, likened to lily pads on a
pond, but it is unlikely that there will be provision for a live session to be migrated from one
cell to another. The Band C services are therefore not mobile. This is a significant
differentiator between the different technologies.
Key Issues
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Band C broadband wireless is an enabling technology from which will flow many new social
and economically beneficial products and services. We will miss these opportunities if the
band is not opened quickly. To enable this to happen there are a number of key issues to
address.
User requirements
The existing common use of licence exempt spectrum in the UK is for Wireless LAN
applications. The equipment is already developed to the point where it can be installed,
configured and used by non-technical users. It is also being used to set up networks for
business, academic and social use where it meets a need for low cost, rapid deployment
broadband connectivity.
This will remain the case for many future generations of equipment
Costs
In some business models the costs of the consumer equipment may be carried by the end
users rather than a service provider. But the costs of the network infrastructure will be
carried by the service providers hence equipment must be available in volume and at volume
production costs. Other business models exist and it is vital that the regulations allow
flexible use of common elements so that all business models can co-exist. The revenues
available to service providers need to be competitive with the complementary access
networks.
The equipment costs for Band C will need to compare with the costs of other access
technologies.
Backhaul
Services offered in Band C will in many cases require connection to and interoperation with,
other third party high speed broadband infra-structures. These may be owned and operated
by the users of Band C networks and therefore Band C may need to provide its own
backhaul capability. There are several alternatives for the provision of Backhaul and these
need to be addressed on individual merits.
Inter-operation
The services provided in Band C that extend beyond a small local population will require
interfaces to other broadband networks.
Where possible existing standards and protocols should be used at the Interfaces.
However, where communities wish to set up their own local networks the licensing regime
should have the flexibility to allow for this.
By this means Band C will encourage competition in the market place.
Social benefit / inclusion
Band C will provide significant new business opportunites by providing access to High
Speed Internet (HIS). Importantly, access will be provided to populations that are currently
beyond the reach of wire-line and Broadband cable. This can only happen if regulations
make it possible to offer services that are attractive to low density rural populations.
Licence costs must be kept to the minimum to ensure the services are affordable by as wide
an audience as possible.
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Competing technologies
Band C is behind the market for public access to Broadband and High Speed Internet
services as can be seen by the growth of Boing and ??? Help here please. I can’t read my
notes! . A benefit of Band C is that it is the cost effective to use, for both public and for
private use.
ADSL and Cable
Even though it offers differentiating features such as higher speed and symmetrical capacity
it may be hard to displace existing ADSL or Cable connections for fixed customers.
However, there are many opportunities for Band C to be used as a complementary
technology to extend the range of wire line networks.
3G or UMTS
While Band C offers wireless connectivity it has quite separate characteristics to the
capabilities of 3G. The two technologies complement each other. Again help here please.
I know we talked of how the two might work together but I don’t have a note of what we said.
[3G is a terrestrial celular service providing full mobility, roaming across networks, and
potentialy full coverage if deployment is extensive. The 3G target is mainly high density
urban and suburban areas. FWA is mainly for last mile access to broadband services – to
areas that are generally Rural, in many cases to complement wireline, if available, but with
portability]
Enablers
Band C brings together a number of existing enablers for the growth of broadband services
and networks that are already in place.
However, the following have been identifed by the commercial group as needing
development :




Chip set development for Transmitter Power Control (TPC)
Chip set development for Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS)
High power RF amplifier components and ‘front-ends’ – to gain full benefits of long
range outdoor broadband services
Devices that allow VoIP – that will increase the value of Band C and build the
business case
In addition the interfaces to the core services and networks need to be defined.
The regulatory environment should encourage their rapid development by setting a clear
development path.
.
Market growth forecasts
The traditional growth curve for Broadband demand has been exponential. However, there is
some evidence that this trend has a natural limit. It is expected that growth in the use of
Band C will very likely follow such trends.
Market growth is likely to come from increasing numbers of users and the provision of new
applications rather than demand for higher speeds by individual users.
User populations
The majority of users of broadband initially were business related - especially the Small and
Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Small Office Home Office (SOHO) and the Homeworker
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communities. However, it is increasingly difficult to separate these groups from the
residential users. As the business related use enables the development of equipment and
deployment of networks and services it is likely that Band C will move into the residential
market as well.
Early indications of demand indicate that the growth of community based services will be a
major driver.
Services
Speed of deployment, ample bandwidth and power to support long range will be significant
enablers for growth.
These characteristics will provide productivity gains for many small businesses where the
exchange of high volumes of data is an essential element, as in the exchange of CAD files
or hosting web sites.
Applications
Whilst nomadic business users increasingly need access to their corporate networks, it is the
Small businesses that recognise the immediate benefit.
Many of these businesses are either in rural environments, or are businesses increasingly
being operated from home.
The ability to gain fast broadband connection , linked to a local wireless environment,
allowing their staff to access the web simultaneously thus improving business efficiency,
whilst providing low cost security of their premises though the same infrastructure thus
reducing ever increasing insurance costs, and reducing crime is very compelling.
Also some businesses some as engineering companies or yacht marinas need to download
large volumes of data which will require high speed connection not dial up.
Case studies
Point to Point applications
Recently we have seen major growth in the deployment of Point to Point links utilising
unlicensed bands in the USA. This is enabling many businesses to achieve connectivity for
the final drop and is also providing the infrastructure for the next level up in the distribution
hierarchy of FWA. In this case the need for the economies of scale and chipsets is not as
relevant. Capacity range and nLoS are extremely important for this application and these
characteristics may not be provided by the high volume components mentioned in the PMP
applications.
Typical examples include the village connection. intra business connections, Municipal,
Utilities, Schools and Hospitals (MUSH) and WISPs. In these cases we currently have a BT
supplied infrastructure that is unaffordable and slow to deploy. Unrestricted non-bureaucratic
access to spectrum has been seen to provide a business boost in the USA and many of the
suppliers in the table of example vendors are supplying product to fulfil this need.
One feature of the FCC regulations that enables this position in the C Band is the ability to
use a high gain antenna to direct 1 Watt of energy in the direction required. Although there
is sensitivity to Radar use in the band this position has now been resolved for the B band
(where the radars have been pushed) by mandating DFS. The US government has
recognised the importance of allowing these higher power levels to stimulate the broadband
economy.
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Currently the Radiocommunications Agency is understandably nervous of allowing this in the
UK due to possible objections from current users. Sharing studies have shown that as long
as the correct specification is applied, the higher powers will not cause interference to any
current user apart from ENG/OB who are the highest power user of the band. In this case
this group will benefit from access to newer equipment which is designed to provide high
quality digital communications with interference mitigation capabilities according to the
regulations. These new equipments will allow ENG/OB to operate at lower power and with
greater reliability. They will also benefit from the economies of scale of this new range of
equipment.
US Experience
The following was taken from a report produced in the US. It provides details of the number of
shipments made last year and the total value of the market.
Attractive Cost of 802.11b Drove
Wi-Fi Shipments in 2002
The year 2002 proved to be a stellar year for Wireless LAN volume growth, driven by the
increasingly cheap and reliable 802.11b technology, according to In-Stat/MDR. The high-tech market
research firm reports that business Wi-Fi hardware shipments are expected to rise 65% annually in
2002, to 11.6 million units and home shipments are expected to increase by a very healthy 160%, to
6.8 million units. However, fast and furiously falling prices for 802.11b equipment are expected to
cause total market revenues to grow by only 23%, from 1.8 billion in 2001 to $2.2 billion in 2002.
"In 2002, security continued to be the most talked about issue on the business side, while the
Achilles heel of the home market remained multimedia support," says Gemma Paulo, a Senior
Analyst with In-Stat/MDR. "In the year ahead, the continued growth and evolution of dual-mode
2.4/5GHz capable equipment, Intel's ability to push outs its Centrino mobile technology, the shift
toward 802.11g as the preferred 2.4 GHz WLAN technology, and the advent of new enterprise
infrastructure technology, will all shape the development of this market."
In-Stat/MDR also found that:
-- Many new types of hardware shipped in 2002: 802.11a NICs and APs;
dual-mode 2.4/5 GHz capable APs; dual-mode 2.4/5 GHz NICs; and in late
2002, the first trickle of pre-standard 802.11g products powered by
Broadcom silicon.
-- Although verticals continued to sustain the bulk of high-end business
purchases, low-end infrastructure equipment flowed into an increasing
number of small businesses, as well as into remote offices and small
departments of large and medium businesses.
-- The increasing rate of embedded 802.11b into laptops greatly
increased, from 2 percent of NIC units shipped to businesses in 2001,
to an expected 14 percent of total business client shipments in 2002.
-- Brisk retail and e-tail sales of low-end router/AP devices, along with
NICs, drove the small business and home/SOHO worldwide market growth.
Retail outlets and Websites aggressively provided rebates on Wi-Fi
equipment.
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Broadband Wireless Solutions & Services for
Advanced Metropolitan Wireless Networks
Strategic Opportunity Primer & Executive Summary
Prepared by: Mike Schmidt, CEO
UK Edition - December 2002
Overview:
This Executive Summary provides an overview of a unique Broadband Access
Network Solution and Wireless Internet Services Opportunity called “TesraNET”
which is being developed by the author’s wireless services company Tessare
InfoSystems in Colorado Springs, CO (USA). This summary is intended to
introduce the reader to the proposed wireless services concept and companies
behind the vision. (Note: Ensemble Ventures, LLC, (also based in Colorado) is
providing business development and support services for Tessare to assist in
capital formation for the company, and to enable its launch and development).
At this time Ensemble holds a majority equity position in both companies and
will manage various IP development and wireless licenses for the company).
For the UK Market: TesraNET will have to be re-named “TesraNET” (Tiered
Ethernet Scaled Radio Access Network) due to the fact that the term “Tetra” is
already being by used by European Telecommunication Standards Institute
(ETSI) for the Tetra Trunked Radio Network, which is being used across Europe.
TesraNET is a 4th generation wireless internet access initiative that attempts to
integrate the best of breed of technologies from four key areas; (1) Fixed
Broadband Wireless Technology, (2) 802.11 Wireless Local Area Networks, (3)
Advanced SSL Encrypted VPN Access Technology, and (4) Value Added Content
Delivery Technology, to create a flexible wireless internet access network that
can be built in metropolitan markets to serve outlying suburban and rural
markets bringing much needed broadband internet services to underserved cities
and communities in both the United States and in select cities in the UK and
Europe, (where LMDS frequencies are available for use). At this time Tessare
has selected five cities in the US to target initially for service, (Colorado Springs,
Denver, Atlanta, San Diego, and Las Vegas). In the UK we would be targeting
London, Birmingham, and Manchester. Others are being considered.
Why is Tessare and TesraNET Unique ?
The creation and deployment of the TesraNET Wireless Internet Access Service,
or Tiered Ethernet Scaleable Radio Access Network is a combination of a fixed
broadband services company using licensed microwave or millimeter wave
frequencies to deploy a 100MB Fast Ethernet wireless metro loop or “invisible
fiber” Internet ring in a large city, that is integrated to a series of unlicensed
wireless wide-area networks operating at 54Mbps (5.8Ghz 802.11a) that service
Wi-Fi “Hot-Spots” or local wireless area networks operating at 11Mbps (2.4Ghz
802.11b).
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What is key to understand about the TesraNET approach is that Tessare
interfaces to a single copper or fiber-based “Point-of-Presence” in a metro
market and extends this network into the local metro using a “Consecutive Point
Network” radio or “ring” architecture, (See Figure 1: TesraNET Network
Topology). Simply put, we use two radios per building that delivers Internet
service to a multi-tenant office building or office tower with the first radio,
(either wired or wirelessly) and then feeds the shared Internet service to the
second radio and on to the next buildings in the wireless chain. From these
initial “core” building locations a second leg of “extended” wireless service can
be “tiered” or delivered to other buildings or market locations beyond the local
metro using unlicensed wireless frequencies.
In cases where there is not local metro fiber, Tessare can deploy direct satellite
internet service feeds that enable service provisioning opportunities in rural
markets, through either a custom-built satellite internet teleport or through
various third party satellite internet service providers who would essentially link
to the local TesraNET wireless network. The TesraNET approach to tiered
wireless services provides a unique and dynamic process for building wireless
data networks in markets both large and small that overcomes the limitations of
current wireless networks that are built using fixed internet connection
architectures, (i.e. fixed DSL or T1 lines) that limit coverage area, under-power
the wireless LAN’s and cost more to deploy due to their need for multiple ILEC
data circuits to feed each wireless location.
TesraNET is a Four-Level Wireless Network…
Comprised of four levels of integrated wireless networks, TesraNET delivers a
Metropolitan Area Internet Backbone using Wide Area wireless technology to ultimately
serve Local and Personal wireless networks. Abbreviated it would be: “MAN to WAN
to LAN to PAN”. Below is a brief summary of each of the four levels:
wMAN (wireless Metropolitan Area Network)
To meet the needs of growing wireless LAN’s in the marketplace, TesraNET is
structured as a four tier wireless network. The first tier is called a wireless
Metro Area Network (wMAN) which is a Consecutive Point Network (CPN)
ring of buildings (usually 8-10 buildings in a market or multiple rings of buildings
on separate loops) that are interfaced together using licensed 39Ghz LMDS
radios, (2 per building) that form a self-healing wireless ring network. Think of
it as “invisible fiber” that functions just like a physical fiber ring, but only
through the air. The 100MB network is fed by a single metropolitan fiber circuit
at one of the buildings that distributes the Internet feed to the other buildings
through a wireless loop network. The 100MB service is then divided up and
“inserted” into the core buildings on the wMAN network as a 10MB or higher
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shared Internet service. The wMAN provides a cost-effective packet network to
high-density office buildings, multi-tenant buildings, or health care and city
administration buildings in the city center, which normally extends from 1-3
miles from the core metro, or 4-5 miles in corridor-like cities. In many cases
these types of campus or cluster buildings in the outlying suburbs are starved
for high-speed broadband because they are outside of major ILEC central offices
coverage areas.
However, the wMAN wireless loop has an additional role to play in addition to
providing a cost effective high-speed wireless Internet in the metro area, and
that is to provide multiple points of presence or “POP’s” in a metro area to
distribute wireless Internet to outlying suburban and rural areas. From these
buildings (which form a 360 degree multi-building platform in the local
metropolitan market), a more complete geographic coverage of the market is
possible which maximizes the return on the core internet access bandwidth
costs, and enables the TesraNET network to function like multiple metropolitan
Network Access Point’s only completely in a wireless fashion.
wWAN (wireless Wide Area Networks)
The additional bandwidth on the wMAN network is then feed into second tier
wireless networks called wWAN’s or wireless Wide Area Networks that can
be used to reach second and third tier buildings in suburban markets which
might be 5-10 miles outside of the core metropolitan markets or even rural
markets which might be 10-20 miles from the city. The wWAN links that
provide Internet access to building owners and small business enterprises not
located in the center city use the 802.11a wireless protocol, which uses
unlicensed spectrum at 5.8Ghz with a maximum throughput at 54 Mbps. This
can be compared to a long-haul physical data feed like a T1 or T3 circuit from
the phone company (only instead of costing a lot to provision, the
interconnection service is provided over a wireless link at a substantial savings).
Once the 5.8Ghz service is provided to these buildings it can be fed into inbuilding Ethernet LAN networks, interfaced to Ethernet over Coax gateways, or
integrated with local wireless networks in the building to provide service to inbuilding customers or wireless hot-spots, (both public and private).
wLAN (wireless Local Area Networks)
At the third level of the TesraNET wireless infrastructure is the wLAN or
wireless Local Area Network which is a cost effective multi-point local access
network that can be provisioned either inside or outside a building and has a
local range of coverage anywhere between 300-400 feet using small antennas,
to larger distances up to 1,500 feet with different antennas.
It is here that Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs) can use this
bandwidth to sell into the small office home office (SOHO) market or to public
wireless access venues like coffee shops, restaurants, hotels, etc. with
bandwidth offered to the end user at 11 Mbps using unlicensed spectrum at 2.4
Ghz.
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wPAN (wireless Personal Area Networks)
At the fourth and final wireless tier or service level Ensemble believes there will
be a major opportunity to interface with a variety of new emerging Personal
Area Network wireless technologies like BlueTooth, or Ultra Wide Band or other
high-capacity local wireless or infrared transmission technologies that enable
high-speed local (under 30-40 feet) transmission of data. We believe our
TesraNET network will be a good backhaul or interface network to be able to
interface to these growing networks in addition to a variety of indoor cellular
networks that are being developed in key markets. In fact, Tessare has
identified a number of innovative “Hybrid Access Point” technologies
and players in the marketplace that combine wireless Wi-Fi frequencies
with standard cellular services, (like GSM, GPRS, CDMA, iDEN, etc.) to
create a multi-frequency access point. Tessare can use its high-capacity
wireless network to serve as a wireless “back-haul” network to delivery
voice traffic to wireless carriers and thus create “tower less cellular
companies”. (Note: this technical approach to indoor network access
may not be possible in some countries where wireless regulation may
prohibit this approach).
The Problem
In many markets where
fiber access is only
provisioned in the key
downtown or local
metro areas, the ability
to “extend” this fiber
into the outer reaches
of a metro and into
suburban and/or rural markets becomes quite cost prohibitive. In addition, DSL
technology serves a 3-4 mile radius or (18,000 foot range) and therefore is not
well suited for delivering high-speed broadband services to outlaying areas
unless large capital expenditures are made. So to address these broadband
deployment issues faced by every marketplace, the business model of TesraNET
is to provide bandwidth to large multi-tenant office buildings, or multi-tenant
apartment buildings that form a core wireless network ring near city centers in
range of the wholesale fiber bandwidth. From here this network has the capacity
to reach to downstream service providers in the WISP market space. By using
both local fiber, (where it can be accessed on a low-cost basis from Ethernet
Metro fiber providers, or ILEC’s or CLEC’s) and/or satellite IP feeds the TesraNET
business model can effectively bypass fixed telephone company or circuitoriented networks, (like DSL or T1’s and T3’s, which have a limited range).
Figure 1: Graphic illustration of the TesraNET network topology and service model:
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The significance of the TesraNET model is that even though the 802.11b protocol specifies 11
Mbps of bandwidth, there is no viable means of economically delivering this much bandwidth
to the end user using existing provisioning methods. “Hotspots” are being deployed by
nationwide coffee house and hotel chains using much smaller “pipes” which restrict the flow
of internet access because of their topologies, (see illustration above)… However, most of
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these installations can, at a maximum, tap T1 data lines at a maximum bandwidth of 1.54
Mbps. T1 data feeds supplied by telephone companies cost upwards of $500 to $1,200 per
month, and if you have to feed multiple locations in a city with separate data feeds, the costs
for developing a multi-location service can become quite high. Instead the TesraNET
approach uses a method of bandwidth provisioning that effectively doubles the amount of
bandwidth at each step in the wireless provisioning chain, without the high cost.
The conventional means of delivering bandwidth is via a cable (fiber optic, coaxial or copper
“twisted pair”). This incurs two very expensive components. First, is the legal issue of
obtaining right-of-way to the end user, which incurs a great deal of expense in legal fees and
payments to land owners. Second, is the cost of deployment involving digging up streets and
trenching across properties to deliver cable to the end user, or to build-out or expand
telephony facilities on customer premises.
The Solution
The wireless TesraNET model bypasses these two expensive components. While
roof rights or tower construction may be involved in the deployment of a
TesraNET network, this expense pales in comparison to conventional business
models involving cabling and rights-of-way. This is especially useful in smaller
cities not served by a fiber optic IP backbone. Bandwidth is delivered to the
wMAN via lower cost Ethernet metro fiber or through a satellite link. The wMAN
distributes bandwidth via a 39Ghz-licensed spectrum at 100 Mbps around a city
center where the there is a demand for high bandwidth. The TesraNET model
then steps down to distribute bandwidth to second tier enterprise customers or
wireless ISP’s, or “Micro carriers” via 802.11a at 5.8Ghz unlicensed spectrum.
Overall Business Vision and Strategy:
Tessare plans to create a “hybrid wireless wholesale and last-mile vertical
market internet solutions provisioning company” that offers scaleable wireless
internet infrastructure to provision advanced high-speed wireless internet
backbone and last-mile solutions to the following types of markets and
customers in the key US cities as well as selected European Cities where highspeed wireless frequencies are allowed:
Backbone Wireless Services:
1. Small Internet Service Providers who want to offer Wireless
Internet Access Services in key suburban and rural markets. We will
start in the Metro’s but expand to suburban and rural markets in a hub
and spoke model...
2. Small to Medium Size Real Estate Management Companies who
desire to resale Internet access to their tenants. Tessare wants to
focus on the 2nd and 3rd tier building and office market that have been
overlooked by the larger BLEC service providers and Internet
wholesalers and service companies. Having a low-cost, high-quality
service offering is key.
3. Existing BLEC operators, (Building Local Exchange Carriers) who
want to upgrade their current bandwidth and offer advanced
multimedia wireless services to their tenants, or provision Wi-Fi
services on their premises.
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4. Hot Spot Wi-Fi “Micro Carrier” Operators who desire to offer
wireless Internet access services to their customers. This would
include the restaurant and hospitality markets, café’s, meeting centers,
rural meeting centers, city hubs, strip malls in residential communities,
etc. Tessare is considering strategic alliance positioning with some of
the Hot-Spot aggregators in the marketplace to extend the network
access options. Tessare has identified 4-5 of these types of
aggregators in the marketplace to date in the USA
Who are the players?
More contributions please !!!
Health and Safety
Wireless for communications of all sorts is attracting increasing concerns with regard to the
possible associated health risks. In practice the level of risk, if any, depends upon widely
varying factors such as transmitter power levels, frequency, proximity to people. The recent
announcements on the safety of GSM systems is welcome.
See Annex X for current information.
Opening the band
There has to be a balance between early availability and long term stability. Potential
service providers will have to demonstrate a return on investment for the medium to long
term. End users will similarly have to have assurance that investment in hardware and
systems is for the long term also. This implies that standards and regulations are in place,
which they are currently not.
However, to wait for them to be put in place will delay the industry beyond the window of
opportunity.
It is not clear that interim regulations, as currently under discussion, assist businesses and
manufacturers. They are left with the uncertainty that early products or services will remain
possible under later revised regulations. The Regulatory Sub-Group will comment on these
issues.
Any interim regulations should be framed to take account of known technical developments
that would enhance the performance of the systems in the band. .
The Sharing sub-group will provide input to this topic.
Services allowed
As part of the band opening process there will need to be a view on the permitted services.
Traditionally voice, video and data have been separated under different regulators. With the
imminent arrival of European Directives on the introduction of regulation for Electronic
Communications Networks this is no longer appropriate, as these can be generally classified
as Multimedia services. .
At the same time any limiting regulatory conditions set today will reduce the likely
development of future services.
Limitations on service types should not be included in the regulation of the band.
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The Sharing Sub-Group will provide input to this topic with particular attention to the
interaction of the various possible services.
Regulatory Principles UNII
To be added. Review of US experience contributions please
Public/ Private mix
To be added. Contributions from Broadband Stakeholders Group Wireless Group
Economic Impact of other licences
It is expected that the growth of wireless broadband access in general will raise awareness
of the possibilities and will encourage the development of services and hardware that may
be used as elements of a Band C network.
The likely economic impact of the other Broadband Fixed Wireless Access spectrum
licences will have a positive effect on Band C
Economic impact on other licences
Band C services will complement and enhance other broadband fixed and broadband mobile
services by contributing to the network infra-structure and by encouraging experimentation
with new services.
Licence Process
Speed of turn around
It is likely that large numbers of license applications will be made for the deployment of Band
C network infrastructure. While Band C is licence exempt there is in theory no requirement to
control or plan the deployment. However, bearing in mind the social benefits that will accrue
from a successful development of the industry and the industries that will flow from it, there
is significant value in providing support to applicants.
A critical element of bringing any new service to maturity is the speed and ease with which it
can be grown. For Band C this implies a fast process for the allocation of ‘permissions’.
There must be a rapid response to applications, a low ‘ping factor’.
The proposed web accessed database offers a potentially practical tool to ensure this is
possible.
Low-cost
To support the objective of making Band C available to as wide an audience as possible the
licence process must be affordable to communities on low budgets. It must be possible for
them to obtain licences ahead of any revenue they may derive from the services they offer.
In some cases, education for instance, it is likely that funds will be very limited.
The application process must attract both a low fee and low preparation costs.
Low annual fees
While some commercial services may attract high revenues many services will operate at
the margin of profitability or will run under charitable or public service conditions.
The licensing conditions must recognise both types of users and respond accordingly.
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Draft Revision 2 26th Feb
Arbitration between commercial users
While The Band is licence exempt there will be businesses that use it for commercial public
access purposes and which will come to depend on the performance of their systems.
Others will rely on Band C to enable them to set up private networks for use in small
businesses or academic campuses. The latter will be unlikely to have the resources to deal
with any interference caused by other users who may set up later.
In the interests of early deployment the resolution of disputes should be left to the affected
parties.
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