Consultation & Review

Future Licencing of Radio Based Public
Telecommunications Services in the 2.4 GHz Band
A Consultative Document from the Radiocommunications Agency

CONTENTS

1 Introduction

2 Background

3 Spectrum Issues

4 Future Licensing Requirements

5 Proposals

1 Introduction

1.1 The UK has been at the forefront of developments within Europe in radio based provision of telecommunications services. In 1995, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Radiocommunications Agency issued a consultative document on "Radio Fixed Access; Increasing the Choice" which primarily dealt with the provision of radio fixed access services in the 2 GHz and 10 GHz frequency bands, but also addressed the potential use of the 2.4 GHz band.

1.2 Until recently, links to homes and businesses in the UK have traditionally been by fixed copper wire. A number of competitors to BT and Mercury have emerged since the end of the BT/Mercury duopoly in 1991, particularly as a result of the decision to allow cable companies to offer telecommunications services in their own right. The Independent Television Commission (ITC) has awarded Local Delivery Operator (LDO) licences under the Broadcasting Act 1990. These allow competing networks to be developed using a combination of cable and fixed radio networks. In addition, the Government has been keen to see the development of innovative fixed radio services nationally. To this end, Government has licensed Atlantic Telecommunications Limited in the 2.4 GHz band, Ionica and Liberty (now TELE2) in the 3.4 GHz and 4 GHz bands respectively, BT and Radiotel in the 2 GHz band and NTL, MCL and Ionica/Scottish Telecom in the 10 GHz band.

1.3 In terms of market segmentation, past consultations have identified the 2 GHz band for basic voice telephony and some more advanced services to serve remote rural areas; whilst the 10 GHz band services for small and medium sized businesses seeking multiple telephone lines and more advanced digital services, for instance ISDN services. The 2.4 GHz, 3.4 GHz and 4.0 GHz band allocations are seen as being suitable primarily for urban areas, providing voice and Internet connectivity but largely targeting the residential market.

1.4 Use of the 2.4 GHz band for RFA has been pioneered in the UK by Atlantic Telecommunications Limited (ATL). They successfully launched a service in the Strathclyde Region of Scotland in 1996. The WT Act licence to provide a public radio based service was only granted after ATL successfully demonstrated that their technology was capable of offering a reliable service in this band. It has been necessary to impose conditions on the award of the licence in this band because of the associated difficult compatibility issues. ATL has now also been licensed to offer service in the East of Scotland, and has plans to extend their service to other regions of the UK.

1.5 Prior to issuing any further regional WT Act licences in the 2.4 GHz band, DTI and RA consider it an opportune time to issue this Consultative Document which addresses the future requirements for such services in the band and the conditions under which further licences may be issued.

1.6 Specific proposals are put forward as to how further RFA licensing in this band might proceed for the remaining regions of the UK not already licensed.

1.7 DTI and the Radiocommunications Agency would welcome comments on the proposals contained in this document. Those interested in applying for a licence to provide regional telephony service in the 2.4 GHz band, were a licence to be available, are also invited to express their interest when responding to this consultation paper.

1.8 Responses should be sent by 1 October 1998. These should be sent to RA and copied to DTI:

 1.9 Written comments will be made publicly available on the Agency's website except where respondents indicate that their response or parts therein are confidential. Confidential material should be clearly marked and placed in an annex.

1.10 Any queries on the spectrum proposals outlined in this document should be referred to Brian Last at the RA and queries on telecommunications policy should be referred to Alan Proud at CII.

2.1 At present, in the UK, one operator is providing an RFA service at 2.4 GHz. There is evidence that there may be further interest in providing similar services in this band. The object of this consultation is to establish the level of interest and to determine the framework for future licensing of RFA operators in this band.

2.2 The 2.4 GHz band presents a considerable challenge to potential RFA operators as the band is used by many other services and applications including the large number (i.e. millions of units) of deregulated devices such as microwave ovens.

2.3 In the past, the inability to accurately define the radio environment has meant that such bands were deemed as unsuitable for public networks. The recent introduction of technology using Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) techniques has altered the situation and has enabled consideration to be given of sharing between systems that would not otherwise be viable.

2.4 For these reasons the evaluation of any proposed RFA technology together with an assessment of the radio environment in the proposed region in which service is to be provided are considered to be a necessary part of the proposed licensing procedure and reflect the process applied to the existing licensee. Further details are contained in section 4 of this document.

There are a number of different uses of the 2.4 GHz band. The following paragraphs summarise the position.

3.1 The frequency band 2400 - 2483.5 MHz, referred to in this document as the 2.4 GHz band, is identified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Radio Regulations as an ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) band. This means that, within the band, there are many devices which, whilst not radiocommunication devices per se (and hence not regulated by the RA) do impact on the quality and usefulness of the spectrum.

3.2 Within CEPT countries, radio communications equipment is permitted to operate in the band 2400 - 2483.5 MHz, using CDMA technology meeting the requirements of ETS 300 328.

3.3 In the UK, operation of equipment conforming to ETS 300 328 is exempt from licensing under the Wireless Telegraphy Act, providing that it is used for private self-provided communications. The typical application area for ETS 300 328 equipment is radio local area networks (RLANs), and this application is becoming increasingly common for business communications within the UK and other European countries.

3.4 The UK currently does not conform with CEPT recommendation T/R 01-04 which promotes the band 2400 - 2500 MHz for low power devices using a maximum power of 10 mW ERP. In the interest of harmonising spectrum use within Europe the RA will be looking at opening this band for low power devices at those power levels.

3.5 The frequencies between 2445 - 2455 MHz are, however, allocated to low power devices in the UK, according to UK equipment specification MPT 1349. This specification has recently been amended to permit the operation of 500 mW EIRP transponder systems as well as the existing low power devices.

3.6 The band is used for high power FM television OB (outside broadcast) links. There are six 20 MHz channels, starting at 2390 MHz, and the maximum EIRP is 40 dBW.

3.7 The Amateur and Amateur Satellite (Am-Sat) Services have secondary allocations in the band 2400 - 2450 MHz.

3.8 As noted earlier, ATL operates a regional public telephony system in the 2.4 GHz band, covering the Strathclyde region of Scotland, and the East Coast of Scotland.

3.9 In the UK, the 2400 - 2450 MHz band is a military band, within which the civil uses identified above have been permitted. Military use is varied and can be heavy in areas where there is established military presence. Civil use of the band must therefore be able to operate in this environment.

3.10 All of the uses identified above co-exist in the 2.4 GHz band and there is no planning of the band to minimise interference between services. RA does not intend to seek modifications of the ways in which users make use of the band but the rise in the overall level of use is expected to continue.

4 Future Licensing Requirements

4.1 For radio fixed access operation in the 2.4 GHz band, operators would be required to hold a Telecommunications Act (T Act) licence and a Wireless Telegraphy Act (WT Act) licence for the region(s) in question. As noted above, a licence covering Strathclyde and the East of Scotland has already been issued.

4.2 Due to concerns over spectrum capacity in the band, it is proposed that licensing proceeds on a regional basis, and that, for the foreseeable future, only one public operator is licensed in any one region. An applicant for a regional licence would need to demonstrate that the proposed technology and system was robust in the harsh radio environment of the 2.4 GHz band. In addition, the RA’s Mobile Monitoring Laboratory would carry out radio field strength monitoring in the region of interest prior to issue of any licence. Only if monitoring demonstrated that there was a real prospect of a public service being provided would the RA wish to proceed.

4.3 Comments are invited on the following proposals:

(a) that further licences for RFA services in the 2.4 GHz band should be issued on a one per region basis;

(b) that applications would only be entertained if the applicant was able to demonstrate the proposed technology was robust and monitoring by RA demonstrated a real prospect of a service being possible;

(c) for regions to be defined in accordance with the map at Annex A. The RA and DTI would welcome comments on how regions for these purposes should be defined. As a basis for discussion, the regional map in Annex A is primarily based on television franchise areas.

4.4 In expressing views on this consultative document, respondents wishing to express interest in being considered for further regional 2.4 GHz licences should also submit an outline business plan covering at least the period until their system is expected to become fully operational. They will need to demonstrate that they have adequate managerial, financial and technical resources to install and operate their proposed network. To do this they should provide an outline of their proposed company and management structure, with the names and qualifications of those likely to be principally involved, along with a description and outline costing of the network and associated management, and the anticipated sources and amounts of finance involved. Information on marketing intentions and any supporting market research material is also requested. Applicants should specifically address the following points:

• region(s) that the proposed system would cover,

• roll-out plan to compliment the above,

• forecast number of subscribers per region,

• spectrum required for the RFA service proposed,

• spectrum required in other bands, if applicable, for the provision of infrastructure links,

• immunity of the proposed system to the hostile radio environment at 2.4 GHz,

• details of how sharing with the other services in the 2.4 GHz band would be accommodated.

4.5 Any further regional licence issued for public telephony service in the 2.4 GHz, will be subject to certain roll-out obligations, in line with current policy. The roll-out obligations will be based on coverage per percentage of population, taking account of the characteristics of the 2.4 GHz band (as outlined in sections 2 and 3) .

4.6 If, following this consultation, there is interest in the further licensing of 2.4 GHz band licences for public RFA services and several applicants show credible plans to serve the same region, there will be a need to trigger a further stage which would consider the award of licences for the region(s) in which two or more applicants have expressed an interest.

4.7 In the event of there being more than one application for a regional licence, there will be an open process to decide which applicant is successful. In the past, this would have involved a ‘beauty contest’ whereby applicants have submitted detailed business plans which have been carefully analysed to determine the successful applicant. Alternatively, the RA could auction the spectrum and issue licences following this process. The initial view is that this particular band would be a difficult candidate for an auction as there is not the certainty necessary in defining the auction ‘product’, i.e. this band is not susceptible to a clear statement about current use and, crucially, there is no control over the future use of the band. Accordingly, it is proposed that any process would be of the traditional 'beauty contest' kind.

4.8 The issue of a WT Act licence will be conditional on compliance with the following technical and spectrum management requirements:

• Equipment shall be limited to an EIRP limit of 100 mW;

• Equipment shall by type approved to the wideband data system specification ETS 300 328;

• Laboratory trials of the RFA equipment to demonstrate adequate immunity to interference sources in the 2.4 GHz band, e.g. characterisation of equipment performance to known potential interferers;

• The RA would also carry out spectrum monitoring prior to issuing the licence, to ascertain the radio environment in the proposed region(s);

New licensees would also be required to supply regular traffic and performance statistics, under operational loads, to the RA for a 6 month period following their commercial service launch, to ensure that an acceptable level of service was being maintained. For any one operator (including ATL), the grant of a further regional licence would depend on RA being satisfied with the 6 months traffic and performance data from the first region licensed.

Speculative license applications will not be entertained

4.9 Applicants should provide details of the equipment that they will be using, i.e. the manufacturer, the type and model, together with a technical assessment of how their equipment will co-exist with other users in the 2.4 GHz band. Proposed coverage and roll out obligations should also be provided.

5.1 Comments are invited on the following proposals:

(a) that licensing will be on the basis of one operator per region, but an operator may hold licences for several regions.

(b) licenses may be revoked and made available to others if deployment of a network has not taken place within 12 months of grant of a license.

(c) that future licensing of RFA networks in the 2.4 GHz band be in conformity with the conditions described in section 4, noting in particular the requirement to demonstrate compatibility with the other users of this band.

(d) that spectrum monitoring data and network performance statistics are required until the RA has gained further experience of the implementation of RFA networks in this band.

(e) that roll-out obligations will be applied to these systems but the determination of the final figure and the qualifying period will take account of the characteristics of the 2.4 GHz band (as outlined in sections 2 and 3).

 Annex A

Note: A licence covering Strathclyde and the East of Scotland has already been issued.

Radiocommunications Agency
DTI Communications and Information Industries Directorate
August 1998