Ofcom: New microwave licences for the Olympics?

[BGonaSTICK]

A consultation opens in the UK Thursday, on the planned release of spectrum in the 10GHz, 28GHz, and 32GHz bands for new radio services and if one thing is for certain, there won't be a shortage of bandwidth when the Olympics arrive in London.

These microwave bands are suited to very high-bandwidth links, but require high transmission power to achieve communication over appreciable distances. Hence, coordination is needed to prevent interference.

UK telecoms watchdog Ofcom is seeking proposals on how to divide the spectrum, which it has already decided will be done on a technology-neutral basis. 12 licences in the 10 GHz, 28 GHz and 32 GHz bands are proposed, in the following packages:

10 GHz - a single UK-wide licence of 2x100 MHz
28 GHz - two UK-wide licences each of 2x112 MHz, plus three geographically limited licences each of 2x112 MHz which can only operate in certain areas
32 GHz - six UK-wide licences each of 2x126 MHz.

Possible uses include point-to-point high capacity links - for example, supporting high quality video cameras at the Olympic Games, point-to-multipoint broadband access, and low-power sensing for various industrial uses. Both fixed and mobile are possible but the primary use for a point-to-multipoint system in these bands is likely to be backhaul for other access technologies. The high transmitter power required makes it unlikely that a suitable mobile device could be designed.

It remains unclear whether any other European state will follow suit, although the likely uses are not ones which raise the question of roaming. The primary user was historically the Ministry of Defence, and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) had allocated most of the spectrum to secondary use for satellite operations and space research, with some reserved for amateur microwave users. The UK, however, has decided not to implement an ECC decision regarding the 26GHz band.

This reflects a broader Ofcom policy of licensing more spectrum on a technology-neutral basis and leaving it to the market to decide which services go in which bands, rather than assigning them through a planning process.

The decision not to implement the 26GHz decision may yet turn out to be a problem. "Among the vendors, everyone's got equipment on the market for 26, because it's long been a band outside the UK that's used for point-to-point under the European channel plan. Almost nobody's got 32," said Peter Lagerlof of microwave specialists Allgon.