French Digital Dividend Commission issues recommendations

The French government should allocate the 790-862 MHz band to "electronic communications", according to the final report of the country's Digital Dividend Commission.

This is the best way of ensuring the whole country has access to advanced broadband Internet services in the future, the report says.

Read the full details at: https://www.policytracker.com/headlines/french-digital-dividend-commission-issues-recommendations

September 2008 printed issue available for download

Our top story this month is the implications for spectrum managers of the growth in machine-to-machine communications

Over the coming decades 50 billion machines are expected to use the airwaves to communicate with each other, a development anticipated by this month's EC decision to harmonise a band for intelligent transport systems.

Read the full details at:
http://www.policytracker.com/alerts.php?tact=799

Frustration in South Africa at delay in liberalised regulations

Much of the South African telecoms industry is getting impatient with the slow progress towards implementing legislation which will, among other things, introduce technology and service neutral licensing.

Operators and service providers have been positioning themselves for the day they can offer what services they want, using what technologies they want, but there is no indications of when changes to telecoms regulations outlined in the Electronic Communications Act of 2005 will come into effect.

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http://www.policytracker.com/alerts.php?tact=797

Consultation: Increasing the power levels below which devices will be exempt from licensing

Ofcom has published a consultation on increasing the power levels below which devices will be exempt from licensing in the frequency bands above 10GHz. The regulator argues that the current power limits on UWB below 10GHz could be extrapolated proportionately into the higher bands without causing harmful interference.

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http://www.policytracker.com/alerts.php?tact=796

A moral obligation to provide more spectrum for public protection?

European public safety services are pressing for a share of the digital dividend pie. Top on their wish list is harmonised spectrum in the UHF range for data and broadband communications.

Partly funded by the European Commission, Public Safety Communication Europe Forum (PSC Europe) offers the public safety and security services a venue in which to discuss communications needs, said Motorola Belgium Director Jeppe Jepsen, who chairs the organisation's Spectrum Harmonisation Initiative. Public safety spectrum users still lack a strong voice in Europe despite the 1996 establishment of the pan-European Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) network that linked all emergency services on the same frequency, he said.

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http://www.policytracker.com/alerts.php?tact=795

First pan-European selection procedure gets underway

The European Commission has invited applications to operate mobile satellite services across the whole EU, the first time a spectrum assignment decision has been made on a pan-European basis.

The selection procedure is based on a European Commission decision proposed in August 2007 which came into force in July this year following agreement from the European Parliament and Council.

Read the full details at:
http://www.policytracker.com/alerts.php?tact=794

UK 2.6GHz auction further delayed

Regulator Ofcom has announced that they will not be inviting applications for the 2.6 GHz auction until November at the earliest. The delay is due to continuing legal action.

The auction of what was once known as the 3G expansion band but is also a target band for WiMAX is the subject of legal action by T-Mobile and 02.

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http://www.policytracker.com/alerts.php?tact=793

Time to make plans for 50 billion new customers

In the coming decades the 3.5 billion cellphone customers who use the radio spectrum will be joined by 50 billion machines communicating with other machines. Are regulators and standards bodies ready? Michael Newlands investigates

Although machine to machine (M2M) communications has been around for some time it is only in the past few years that technology has evolved enough for M2M to start becoming widespread.

Read the full details at:
http://www.policytracker.com/alerts.php?tact=792

Opinion: The increasing complexity of spectrum choice

The large number of auctions over the next few years mean that tried-and-tested rationales for acquiring new frequencies need to be re-examined, argues Susan Sweet of Mott MacDonald Schema

There is growing interest around the world in the potential availability of spectrum, in particular in the "sweetspot" of the radio spectrum between 300 MHz and 3 GHz. This spectrum range could be available to provide a range of innovative new applications and services such as private mobile radio, mobile TV and HDTV, IMT advanced LTE, WiMAX and other wireless broadband access services.

Read the full details at:
http://www.policytracker.com/alerts.php?tact=791

EC Decision harmonises band for intelligent transport systems

A new EC decision published this week has harmonised spectrum in the 5875 to 5905M Hz band across the EU for use by Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS).

According to a spokesperson for the Information Society Directorate, existing services in the band vary between member states and are mainly fixed satellite services, radiolocation services, and some fixed-lint and short-range communications such as amateur radio.

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http://www.policytracker.com/alerts.php?tact=790

Mobile sector welcomes MEPs digital dividend report

The Toia report is a big step forward says GSMA but the task now is to convince member states. Although the report has won the support of the Industry Committee the full Parliament won't vote on it until September.

Roberto Ercole, the GSM Association's (GSMA) Director of Spectrum Regulation told <i>PolicyTracker</i>, in a interview that the own-initiative report by Italian Liberal MEP Patrizia Toia "recognises the principle that there should be a digital dividend and that the frequencies [freed up] should be made available for non-broadcasting services". The GSMA represents more than 750 operators worldwide.

Read the full details at:
http://www.policytracker.com/alerts.php?tact=789

US follows UK lead on public spectrum

The US government has unveiled an ambitious strategy for managing federal spectrum that could ultimately include sharing, trading and the payment of user fees. But experts wonder whether it will ever be put into practice.

The Federal Strategic Spectrum Plan (FSSP) grew out of the Bush Administration's 2003 initiative on Spectrum Management for the 21st Century. Federal agencies were directed to identify their spectrum requirements for future technologies or services, describe how they intend to use the new technologies or services, and suggest spectrum-efficient ways to meet those requirements.

Read the full details at:
http://www.policytracker.com/alerts.php?tact=788