Existing Services and Further Opportunities in Fixed Wireless Access (FWA)Bands

The Government is making spectrum available for Broadband Fixed Wireless Access services in the 28 GHz band, to be licensed via an auction in September 2000. A further award process for services at 40 GHz is expected to take place shortly after. However, ‘Broadband’ is a relative term and there are other areas of spectrum where local access services are provided which in some aspects of their market may either complement or compete with the services at 28 and 40 GHz.

Licensed FWA Frequency Bands

There are a number of licensed FWA services between 2 GHz and 10 GHz which have not yet fully developed their market potential and there are some spectrum allocations which will be offered for licensing in these bands, either by auction or by comparative selection. These systems are capable of providing FWA services of varying capacity, from simple telephony to broadband applications. The frequency bands in which these lie are summarised below.

2 GHz Licences were awarded by comparative selection to two licensees, Radiotel and British Telecom. However, the use of frequencies is geographically limited and is intended for serving primarily remote areas of the UK with FWA services. BT have since decided not to proceed with implementation and it is possible that the spectrum will be offered for re-allocation in the near future.

2.4 GHz This spectrum is allocated to ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) services and is available for use by licence exempt services in the UK. Licence exempt means that only eligible devices may be used without a WT Act licence on a non-protected basis, however the terms of Exemption Regulations generally exclude any use for commercial (public third party) business purposes.

However, following a successful trial business venture in Scotland by Atlantic Telecom using low power spread spectrum technology, licences were offered throughout the rest of the UK by comparative selection. Atlantic Telecom was successful in bidding for licences in six regions and Kingston Communications secured a licence for one region. Services provided include FWA telephony and Internet connectivity at data rates up to 2 MB/s.

3.4 GHz An allocation of 2 x 17 MHz of spectrum formerly licensed to the company Ionica, which went into administration is available for re-allocation and, following a consultation at the end of 1999 it is intended that a comparative selection will be held before the end of 2000. The available spectrum may support similar telephony services as in 2.4 GHz, Internet and high data rate services.

3.6 - 4.2 GHz An allocation of spectrum which was agreed in principle several years ago has recently been formally licensed to Tele 2, following trials in the Thames Valley. A core allocation of 2 x 36 MHz has been made, though there is provision to use an extension. Services are planned to commence more widely in England, Scotland and Wales within the next year.

10 GHz Three licences, each of 2 x 30 MHz were awarded in 1997 for providing FWA services. Two of the licensees remain, Cable & Wireless Communications and NTL. However commercial services have as yet been slow to develop in the band. The third licence ended when Ionica entered administration and the allocation is again available for re-assignment, probably before the end of 2000.

The prevailing theme throughout all the above options is that all are capable of supporting basic telephony, data services and internet connectivity with varying degrees of facility depending of available bandwidth and technical co-ordination. Most are unlikely to be able to compete with the broadband, high data rate capabilities of either 28 GHz and certainly 40 GHz assuming that such services are to be deployed. If more modest services were to be considered in these higher frequency bands, then the lower ranges would offer competing services though conversely, they do offer also alternative opportunities for those considering lower capacity services which would leave 28 & 40 GHz available for higher bandwidth applications.

Further enquiries should be directed to the Agency’s Public Telecommunications Networks Unit attn. Robert Emson. [e-mail: robert.emson@ra.gsi.gov.uk ]

28 GHz - Three Licences per region, each of 2 x 112MHz to be auctioned in September 2000.

40 GHz - Spectrum packaging and award method currently is under development, licences may be offered by earliest November 2000, subject to market study.

Further enquiries should be directed to the Agency’s Broadband Fixed Wireless Access Unit attn. Jacqui O’Mahoney. [e-mail: jacqui.omahoney@ra.gsi.gov.uk ]

5 GHz In addition to the licensed Fixed Service bands used for FWA there is interest in a number of frequency ranges between 5150MHz and 5875 MHz. Technologies identified for use in these bands could to some degree provide broadband FWA, although there are a number of regulatory and technical constraints and a number of issues related to the provision of public and private networks in licence exempt spectrum.

A consultation, which began last year, is considering the use of three separate bands between 5150MHz and 5875MHz. Parts of this frequency range may be used for HIPERLAN applications (5150-5350 MHz & 5470-5725 MHz) and short range devices (5725-5875 MHz). Several responses to the previous rounds of the consultation have suggested that this spectrum could support a number of applications complying to the relevant standards including in-home distribution systems and short range nomadic public/private access systems.

However in relation to the use of the 5 GHz spectrum world wide, WRC-2000 has agreed to an agenda item for WRC-2002/3 to consider the allocation of 5150-5350 MHz and 5470-5725 MHz to the mobile service. Licence exempt Mobile/Nomadic WLAN services could use this spectrum. However, it is unlikely that sharing will be feasible between ubiquitous Mobile/Nomadic services and FWA systems. The Agency is considering further consultation and feasibility studies on the use of the band 5725-5875 MHz for co-ordinated low power FWA systems.

Further enquiries should be directed to the Agency’s 5GHz consultation team, attn. Annette Henley/Andy Gowans. [e-mail: 5ghzconsultation@ra.gsi.gov.uk ]

Radiocommunications Agency
7 June 2000

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