European Regulators to Start Work on 700 MHz Roadmap for Mobile Broadband Services
LONDON -- “It’s irresistible” to move toward using the 700 MHz band for mobile broadband services, the head of the EU Radio Spectrum Policy Group said Wednesday at an IIR telecom regulation conference. The issue of using the spectrum for a “second digital dividend” (the 800 MHz band is now in the process of being set aside in EU members for wireless services)exploded at WRC-12 when many African and Arab countries pushed for its release. Europe was cautious at first but followed along “quite happily,” said RSPG Chairman Roberto Viola. The WRC decision to allow transition after WRC-15 was a major result, and the idea of being able to use the spectrum is heaven for device makers and consumers, he said.
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Viola will put the issue of creating a 700 MHz roadmap on the agenda for the RSPG’s June meeting, he said. Coming up with a plan won’t be easy because the problems involved in clearing the band for mobile broadband are twice as difficult as those for the 800 MHz band, he said. The main challenge is how to change the face of broadcasting in Europe, he said. Broadcasters are already losing their channels in the 800 MHz band, and if another 12 channels are removed, their spectrum gets tighter, he said. Broadcasters are upset, and when you touch them, you touch politics, he said.
Viola will propose three new technologies, he said, DVB-2, MPEG-4 and sequencing frequency networks. Using all three will compress broadcast spectrum to one-third of what it is now, he said. African nations don’t have the same problem with the 700 MHz band because they don’t have much terrestrial broadcasting, he said. Europe should move quickly to next-generation broadcasting, he said.
In traditional regional planning of broadcast frequencies, broadcasters tend to think the way they did 40 years ago, Viola said. He'll propose discussing a new planning conference for Europe and intelligent sharing or equitable access to spectrum, he said. The RSPG is trying to experiment with the second approach, he said.
The EU radio spectrum policy program, which is about to be formally published, calls for another 1.2 GHz to be made available for wireless broadband, Viola said. Even with the spectrum already made available in the 800 MHz band, and that in the 700 MHz band, that goal won’t be reached, he said. So what comes next is cognitive radio/shared access, he said. The RSPG has proposed using licensed shared access, but the technology isn’t there yet, he said. Traditional operators fear that spectrum they paid billions for will be compromised and will mount serious challenges, he said. But spectrum used for cognitive technologies is completely different from what mobile operators are using and will be of interest to over-the-top players, he said. Regulators shouldn’t be “shy” about trying new ways of utilizing spectrum and letting the market decide, he said.
The 700 MHz band has very good potential for worldwide harmonization, said Thomas Welter, chief frequency officer of French mobile operator SFR. Europe had planned to unleash a second digital dividend in 2015 but strong demand from Arab and African countries have speeded that up, he said. The WRC-12 compromise was to accept a second digital dividend effective after WRC-15, during which the lower band boundary could be revised, he said.
The RSPG is also considering how to make Europe competitive in mobile broadband, Viola said. Spectrum policy has begun to be recognized by decision-makers as an important topic critical for the economy across all sectors, he said. Many understand that spectrum isn’t just about making money, and that the key issue is how to distribute it efficiently to spur LTE rollout, he said.
The Radio Spectrum Policy Programme sets Europe’s spectrum path for the next 4-5 years, Viola said. In addition to requiring another 1200 MHz of spectrum to be freed for wireless broadband, it mandates that spectrum be generally tradeable and for spectrum acquisitions to be capped, he said. From his perspective, he said, spectrum parity among operators “is not an absolute must” because it can never really be achieved. Giving all operators the same amount of spectrum is a welcome way to favor new entrants, but not at the expense of efficient use, he said.
Another hot issue in the EU is net neutrality. The European Commission is awaiting a final report from the Body of European Regulators in Electronic Communications on what operators are doing about network traffic management, said EC Acting Deputy Director General Megan Richards. She said she hopes to see the results of BEREC’s survey by early May so the EC can decide how to move forward. BEREC is also working on reports on competition and quality of service with regard to net neutrality, she said. The EC has set a second digital agenda conference for June, she said.
The U.K. Office of Communications sees an increasingly important relationship between content and networks, said Chief Executive Ed Richards. We're moving into an interconnected age where broadcast, the Internet, mobile and storage are linked, he said. Use of the Internet to access content is growing, but average TV viewing over televisions is stable in the U.K. and radio listening is up, he said. The incremental time spent online is raising a demand for data services, and this pressure will only increase the launch of pay over-the-top services, he said.
Wednesday was an important day because it marked London’s switch from analog to digital TV, Richards said. There’s now a “twinkle in the eye” of those who think it might be possible to replan the spectrum to have a third auction for mobile services at some point, he said.
Europe’s telecom market isn’t in good shape, said Sean Williams, British Telecom group director of strategy, policy & portfolio. Revenues are declining as demand on networks grows, he said. Operators need markets that are open to competition; regulation that’s predictable and fair to all; and a recognition by regulators that they must promote investment, he said.
The EU framework has three problems, said Williams. It tends to encourage a narrow approach that results in unequal access, he said. Ninety percent of BT’s sales are for bundled services but the framework still defines them as separate products, he said. And while providing wholesale access to competitors spurs competition, authorities use different strategies in differing parts of the telecom sector, he said. Application of EU rules also differs from country to country, again creating an uneven field, he said.
Another gripe is that the European system is limited to telecom, a significant problem for the sector because TV and broadband markets are converging, Williams said. BT sells triple-play bundles but Ofcom isn’t capable of dealing with that because pay-TV markets are outside its jurisdiction, he said. So there is a dominant pay-TV provider with huge market share that’s unregulated, he said. Broadband prices are down, yet pay-TV prices are rising, he said. That hurts consumers and the situation should be addressed when the government reviews the communications sector, he said. Ofcom should be able to regulate the whole of the media side, he said.