Mobile broadband requires more spectrum

Julian Bright/Informa Telecoms & Media | January 24, 2012

As the rollout of mobile broadband services gains pace around the world, demand is growing for more spectrum to be made available. With many countries having embarked on, or formulating plans for, the release of new frequencies, the identification, licensing and management of spectrum is of growing concern for governments, regulators and operators.

In Europe, the EU’s Radio Spectrum Policy Program (RSPP) has identified a need for 1200MHz of spectrum to be made available in the region for wireless-broadband services by 2015, but only just over half has been earmarked or freed up either in the form of the new 2.6GHz and digital-dividend bands or by opening up the 2100MHz, 1800MHz and 900MHz bands for new mobile broadband services, such as LTE. This still leaves a requirement for an additional 500-600MHz of spectrum to be found by end-2015.

A number of bands previously unavailable for mobile broadband services are under consideration. These include the L-band at around 1400MHz, currently used for terrestrial DAB and satellite broadcasting; the mobile satellite services (MSS) band at around 2GHz; the 2300MHz TDD band, already licensed in India and expected to be adopted in China but thus far unavailable in Europe; the 3400-3600MHz bands, which have been licensed but remain unused in many European countries; and the TV-white-space bands at below 700MHz.

The 1400MHz band

A significant opportunity for freeing up additional new mobile broadband spectrum in Europe by the RSPP’s 2015 target date is offered by the largely unused 1400MHz band (1452-1492MHz), which is currently designated for broadcast services. The band could be particularly attractive for operators who have little sub-1GHz spectrum, because it provides cost and coverage benefits, primarily in urban areas.

A study carried out on behalf of Ericsson and Qualcomm proposes using the 1400MHz band to address the growing asymmetry between downlink and uplink traffic, quoted by various operators as being between the ratios of 4-to-1 and 10-to-1 downlink-to-uplink. Capacity can be added by providing a supplemental downlink for FDD-based mobile broadband services using unpaired spectrum, in an approach similar to that being explored by AT&T in the US using spectrum acquired from Qualcomm.

Such an approach could provide support for unicast, multicast and broadcast content as well as interactive services.

The band is the subject of a CEPT working group and is also being studied as part of the RSPP. The band is expected to be adopted in the 3GPP specifications by 2013, with spectrum being freed up and chipsets developed within the same timescale. Equipment supporting the band could be available by 2014-15.

Outside Europe, the 1400MHz band is also available in various countries, though not in the US or China.

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