The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau of the Federal
Communications Commission published a White Paper on February 26,
2013 addressing the challenges facing the United States and many
other countries as they try to keep up with mobile broadband
demand. The paper primarily outlined the opportunities and
challenges in freeing up both licensed and unlicensed spectrum for
mobile broadband.
Licensed Spectrum Resources
The Commission's paper pays particular attention to licensed
spectrum below 2.7 GHz because, due to RF propagation
characteristics, the provision of mobile broadband services around
the world primarily occur in these frequency bands. Mobile
broadband services commonly use two sets of "standard" bands; this
allows for economies of scale in deployment. Although not
exact, the frequency range, timing, and technology are comparable
between the United States and the European Union in the most
commonly deployed bands. In the U.S., these bands are at 700
MHz, 850 MHz, AWS-1 (1.7 GHz), PCS (1.9 GHz), and 2.5 GHz; the
comparable bands in the EU are at 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2
GHz, and 2.6 GHz. Furthermore, the total available spectrum
in these standard bands is roughly equal for the U.S. and EU.
The amount of licensed spectrum currently available for mobile
broadband services, however, varies substantially between the
United States, certain EU countries, and Asia. For example,
Germany leads the group with slightly more currently available
spectrum (615 MHz) than the United States (608 MHz). And
Australia lags many countries with just 478 MHz available.
Unlicensed Spectrum Resources
The increasing demand for mobile broadband services facilitates
creative solutions, including utilizing unlicensed spectrum.
Technologies like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi require no specific
authorization and are traditionally non-exclusive; therefore, they
can be deployed on unlicensed spectrum. Technical rules,
which vary from band to band, are employed to mitigate interference
in these unlicensed spectrum bands.1
Unlicensed networks, however, will not eradicate the need for
licensed spectrum. The unlicensed spectrum being used is
mostly at 2.4 GHz and 5.2/5.3 GHz. Typically, the power
allotment for this kind of unlicensed network is much lower than
that enjoyed by holders of licensed spectrum. Allowed power
allotment largely relegates license-free providers to line-of-sight
("LOS") coverage only; not ideal for high-speed 4G (LTE)
networks.
What we can learn and appreciate from the Commission's white
paper is that the FCC is attempting to meet growing mobile
broadband demand. New technologies, blanket licensing, and
future incentive auctions are being proposed as necessary
approaches to ensure that sufficient amounts of spectrum are
available, both licensed and unlicensed, in the future.
Further comments from the FCC and the white paper in its
entirety can be found on the Commission's website at:
http://www.fcc.gov/blog/spectrum-available-mobile-broadband-how-us-stacks-and-challenges-ahead
1 http://www.wimax.com/wimax-regulatory/what-is-unlicensed-spectrum-what-frequencies-are-they-in