Planning For Future Wireless
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The Australian Communications and Media Authority is starting to look at how the burgeoning demand for wireless communications might best be served by the available spectrum.

The Authority is seeking input from interested parties and has released a discussion paper to get things rolling. The spectrum planning discussion paper, entitled “Strategies for Wireless Access Services”, is the first step in a process designed to stimulate discussion and solicit information and stakeholder views to help the Authority gauge spectrum demands of future wireless access services.

A seminar, Wireless Spectrum Strategies 2006, will also get the ball rolling on 6-7 March 2006 at the Australian National Maritime Museum, Ultimo, Sydney.

The seminar will focus on future spectrum needs for wireless access and mobile television.

ACMA says its term ‘wireless access service’ encompasses the variety of local loop systems that make use of the radiofrequency spectrum (e.g. 3G, fixed wireless access, broadband wireless access, wireless local loop, multipoint distribution system and radio local area network implementations).

‘Spectrum access is central to addressing the emerging expectations for universal fixed, mobile and nomadic connectivity,’ said Lyn Maddock, Acting ACMA Chair. ‘In the longer term and consistent with world-wide trends, we can expect bandwidth demands to grow, including in the regional and remote areas of Australia.’

The backgrounding paper discusses the demand drivers for wireless access and surveys international trends. The ACMA says that the existing frequency licensing frameworks and their relative merits are discussed.

A number of frequency bands with the potential to support future wireless access are identified. A candidate ‘private park’ regulatory framework is outlined, providing a potentially feasible alternative for managing spectrum access of future wireless access services applications.

The concept of a ‘private park’ for spectrum allocation basically allows for shared spectrum use under certain conditions, much like the existing class licences today.

Traditionally, interference in high-demand spectrum bands is managed by allowing each user an exclusive frequency band at a site or over an area.

However, there are inefficiencies built into this arrangement as users may not use their exclusive spectrum space to its maximum extent all the time, and the leeway built into the geographic and frequency separations represent spectrum that may be unused.

Class licensing, as opposed to apparatus or spectrum licensing, allows multiple devices to share the same spectrum space through the imposition of certain restrictions. However, as there are no controls on the number of users that can deploy devices it can be difficult for providers of commercial services to guarantee QoS.

To get around this the ACAM envisages a new type of device that avoids interference automatically through dynamic frequency selection and the use of contention-based protocols. This would resolve the two conflicting issues of in-built inefficiencies in the traditional exclusive-use licensing arrangements, yet still provide for QoS through a system of usage controls and self registration. Entry to the private park would be controlled by issuing individual licences that authorise shared use, and requiring the registration of devices, says the ACMA.

ACMA will accept comment on the specific issues raised in the paper up until the 3rd of April 2006.

The ACMA also points out that this is just an initial step in the planning process and that any subsequent spectrum re-farming or other action will also be subject to further consultation.

The discussion paper is available from the ACMA website.

Registration details and further information about the seminar, including the program, are also available on the ACMA website.