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Options for a Harmonised Allocation to Support Utility

Operations (Smart Grids)Final Report

Study for European Utilities Telecom Council (EUTC)

2209/EUTC/DR/v14

16.03.2010

Ægis Systems Limited Spectrum for Smart Grids

Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................1

1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................10

2 CURRENT SITUATION........................................................................13

2.1 Introduction........................................................................................................13

2.1.1 Italy................................................................................................................. 13

2.1.2 Latvia..............................................................................................................14

2.1.3 Scotland.........................................................................................................16

2.1.4 Spain..............................................................................................................17

3 KEY REQUIREMENTS.........................................................................18

3.1 Cross Border......................................................................................................18

3.2 Spectrum Requirements...................................................................................19

3.2.1 Bandwidth requirements.................................................................................19

3.2.2 Frequency bands............................................................................................20

3.3 Time Division Multiplex (TDD) or Frequency Division Multiplex (FDD)?................................................................................................................21

3.4 Licensed or licence-exempt spectrum?..........................................................23

3.5 Dedicated or shared spectrum and networks.................................................23

3.5.1 Shared networks.............................................................................................23

3.5.2 Shared spectrum............................................................................................24

4 SPECTRUM.......................................................................................27

4.1 Introduction........................................................................................................27

4.2 88 – 108 MHz......................................................................................................27

4.3 230 - 380 MHz.....................................................................................................27

4.4 380 – 470 MHz....................................................................................................28

4.5 470 – 862 MHz....................................................................................................30

4.5.1 Digital Dividend..............................................................................................30

4.5.1.1 Introduction................................................................................................30

4.5.1.2 Potential for access to 800 MHz spectrum................................................30

4.5.1.3 Guard band...............................................................................................31

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 i


4.5.2 Spectrum between 470 and 790 MHz............................................................32

4.5.3 White Spaces and Interleaved Spectrum.......................................................33

4.6 870 – 876 paired with 915 – 921 MHz...............................................................35

4.7 1452 – 1492 MHz................................................................................................36

4.8 1670 – 1675 MHz................................................................................................38

4.9 1785 – 1805 MHz................................................................................................38

4.10 1710 – 1880 MHz................................................................................................39

4.11 2025 – 2110 MHz and 2200 – 2290 MHz............................................................42

4.12 2300 – 2400 MHz................................................................................................43

4.13 2500 – 2690 MHz................................................................................................45

4.14 3400 – 3800 MHz................................................................................................46

5 MARKET CONSIDERATIONS................................................................49

5.1 Auctions.............................................................................................................49

5.2 Economies of scale...........................................................................................50

6 APPROACHES ADOPTED IN OTHER COUNTRIES..................................52

6.1 Australia.............................................................................................................52

6.2 Canada...............................................................................................................52

6.3 USA..................................................................................................................... 54

7 CONCLUSIONS..................................................................................58

A ANNEX A: POTENTIAL OF OBTAINING ACCESS TO 470 – 862 MHZ SPECTRUM...............................................................................64

ii 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Introduction

A continuous, reliable power supply is an expectation of industry and consumers alike and loss of supply, especially over an extended period, can cause considerable hardship to the public and also loss of output and revenue to industry.

Europe has committed to reduce energy consumption by 20%, to generate 20% of energy needs from renewable sources and to reduce CO2 by 20% by the year 2020. These political objectives have created serious challenges for the energy sector in all member states.

Electricity generation and consumption must be balanced across the whole grid to ensure a continuous supply as most energy is consumed immediately after it is produced. European initiatives to encourage generation from renewable sources within industry and at domestic level adds a new dimension to managing energy networks because the output of these devices in not easily predicted. The complication of integrating possibly millions of local domestic generators across Europe creates new challenges for energy network operators. To provide stability and quality of service in the networks of the future, control and management of many thousands of items of electrical plant, even within a single company will be essential.

A large failure in any part of the grid can cause further failures, unless action is taken quickly, if the current is re-routed over transmission lines not having sufficient capacity and can potentially lead to cascading failure and widespread outages. Increasingly there is integration of electricity markets and with interconnected power systems the reliability of supply is not specific to an individual country. Interruptions in any particular system may therefore have significant cross border impacts. It is therefore essential, to ensure continuity of supply, to monitor and control the complete grid network from power generation through transmission to distribution as shown in the figure below. This requires a communications network that can support the applications needs of the different elements of the grid network:

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 1


Figure 0.1: General layout of electricity network in Europe.

(Source: Wikipedia - Author J Messerly)

While for some elements of the communications networks wired solutions may be feasible and suitable in many instances wireless is necessary to provide the necessary flexibility and mobility and minimise costs. However information provided by Utility Companies in Europe indicates that there is currently no harmonised spectrum to support the mission critical1 communication requirements of the fuel and power industries. Instead, individual frequencies are typically assigned on a country by country basis for applications such as SCADA2, PMR3 and backhaul

1 Mission critical is considered to be the essential real time applications that are necessary to monitor,

control and maintain the Smart Grid network and do not necessarily include smart metering.

2 Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition

3 Private Mobile Radio

2 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


links. There is currently insufficient spectrum to meet their needs, especially for point to multipoint communications, and very little specifically allocated for their exclusive use.

Smart Grids

This lack of spectrum is already far from ideal for many Utility Organisations and will be compounded by the need to efficiently manage the electricity and gas networks to enable Governments to reduce their carbon footprint and achieve a 20% increase in energy efficiency by 2020. This will require new sources of power generation such as solar and wind to be fed into the grid network, all of which will need to be monitored and controlled, and these can be at dispersed locations including highly populated areas as well as remote areas. For example it will become necessary to monitor and control the transformers in the low voltage (distribution) part of the electricity grid network and this might be thousands or even millions of locations spread geographically across a country.

The figures below demonstrate the impact of needing to control and monitor many more points in the distribution grid. In the first figure the customers are consumers of power and there is limited automation at the 11kV supply distribution level or at the customer premises. This is the situation that generally exists now.

Figure 0.2: Current control and monitoring in grid networks with power flow from high power generation plants to end users only

(Source: EUTC)

In the next figure the customer may also deliver excess energy into the grid network from, for example, solar panels, small wind turbines or even the batteries of an electric car, and the communications network will need to be enhanced accordingly

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 3


to approximately 100% of customers, 50% of the11 kV low voltage sub-stations and 100% of the 66kV and 33 kV sub-stations.

Note: Number of locations shown on right side of triangular block

Figure 0.3: Future control and monitoring needed for Smart Grids

(Source: EUTC)

Communications Network

Of course not all of the required communications applications need access to dedicated networks to meet the necessary high to very high reliability, security and quality of service (24/7) requirements. For some less critical applications, such as smart metering, it may be feasible to share networks (e.g. public cellular networks). Also it may be possible to utilise capacity on fibre networks where there is a need for higher data rate fixed point to point communications but for low capacity point to multi point communications, especially in rural areas, radio will be the most cost effective solution.

To meet the more critical communication needs it is not considered that licence-exempt spectrum will be a viable option because it is shared with many other users and the interference environment cannot be effectively managed. Therefore it is necessary to identify spectrum that can be licensed on a dedicated or shared basis. However it is unlikely that the utilities will be able to share spectrum with most other users4 with the possible exception of the military if there is limited geographic use of the spectrum (e.g. it is only used at specific locations and times for training exercises).

4 The exception is fixed point to point links where the spectrum is licensed on a first come first served

basis on a link by link basis.

4 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


The other consideration is whether it is necessary to identify suitable paired spectrum, as gaining access to FDD spectrum is likely to be significantly more difficult and expensive especially in the lower frequency bands, or whether unpaired spectrum is suitable. The main determinant will be whether the Smart Grid applications require a low or very low latency and whether TDD spectrum can meet these needs.

Frequency Bands

It is estimated that between 15 and 30 MHz of spectrum will be required within the next 5 years and that the ideal spectrum will be below 1 GHz, although up to 4 GHz may be viable for some applications. One important consideration is the locations of the substations are pre-determined as they already exist and they are rarely located optimally to support radio links. Planning / environmental restrictions will not generally allow the use of high towers to provide clear line of sight so it is necessary to compromise and use frequencies that can operate over obstructed paths. That is the reason why the utilities already have access in many European countries to spectrum in the range 415 to 465 MHz (e.g. in the UK 457.5 to 464 MHz is allocated to scanning telemetry).

The table below provides an overview of the frequency bands that appear to have the best potential of meeting the requirements of smart-grids. The 1700 – 1830 MHz band has been included because the 1800 – 1830 MHz band has already been allocated in Canada for electricity management communications. In our opinion, it is unlikely that it will be possible to identify and obtain access to a single block of harmonised spectrum in the short to medium term. However on a country by country basis it should be possible to identify spectrum within a limited number of bands. The key to success will therefore be to identify a number of frequency bands so a limited multi band option can be adopted for Europe.

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 5


Frequency Band

FDD / TDD Potential to harmonise band in Europe for Smart Grids

Timescales Potential of gaining access

380 – 470 MHz FDD / TDD

M

ed

iu

m

5 years5 Medium – High. Spectrum

already used by

utilities in the band.

Unlikely to gain

sufficient spectrum to

meet full

requirements and

harmonisation across

Europe may be

difficult but may be

possible to obtain

access to a

5 In the UK the MoD has indicated that 406.1 – 430 MHz may be released by November 2010. Other

countries are not so pro-active in encouraging the military to release spectrum and there is continuing

demand for PMR and other civil uses

6 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


Frequency Band



harmonised tuning

range. Important

band for PMR and

also different

frequencies used by

emergency services

across Europe

(though these are

generally migrating to

the harmonised

TETRA band at 380-

400 MHz)

470 – 790 MHz

m

ed

iu

< 5 years Medium

Much depends on

administrations

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 7


Frequency Band



m replanning their

frequencies used for

digital broadcasting

and being able to

identify a number of 8

MHz TV channels

that can be released

within a specific

frequency range.

Interference issues if

not harmonised due

to high powers used

for TV transmissions

and occasional

anomalous

propagation

8 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


Frequency Band



conditions

1452 – 1492

m

ed

iu

m

Band is

cu

rr

en

tly

ha

r

m

on

< 5 years Medium - high

The band is not the only one

available to provide

terrestrial digital audio

broadcasting, so

potential to release

some spectrum.

Limited licences for T-

DAB issued.

RSPG Opinion in 2006

considered high

probability for Europe

wide availability of

common spectrum for

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 9


Frequency Band



is

ed

fo

r

te

rr

es

tri

al

an

d

sa

tel

lit

e

di

the introduction of

multi media services.

Possible cross border

interference issues.

10 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


Frequency Band



git

al

au

di

o

br

oa

dc

as

tin

g

1710 – 1880

MHzBand is

ha

r

Possibility of

gaini

ng

acce

ss

Low - Medium

Spectrum identified for use in

Canada for smart

grids. The cellular

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 11


Frequency Band



m

on

is

ed

fo

r

IM

T

when

licenc

es

are

rene

wed

or

now

if

spare

spect

rum

is

avail

able.

Cellul

operators are likely to

react strongly and

adversely to any

suggestions to

allocate spectrum to

the utilities on a

country by country

basis due to the

considerable growth

seen in the take up of

data services

12 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


Frequency Band



ar

opera

tors

will

be

gaini

ng

acce

ss to

furthe

r

spect

rum

so

might

be

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 13


Frequency Band



able

to

relea

se

some

band

width

.

2025 -2110 and

2200

–

2290

MHz

FDD / TDD Medium to

hi

gh

< 5 years High for low density

applications.

Would need to convince the

space community and

military users that it is

possible to share

spectrum

14 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


Frequency Band



2300 – 2400

MHz

FDD / TDD Medium to

hi

gh

Unknown Medium.

Mixed use of the band across

Europe but might be


quickly in some

countries. WiMAX

equipment already

available.

2500 – 2690

MHz

FDD / TDD Medium

ha

r

m

on

is

Spectrum

alrea

dy

awar

ded

in

some

Medium

Potential to acquire spectrum via

licence tenders or

trading

WiMAX equipment already

available for TDD.

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 15


Frequency Band



ed

fo

r

IM

T

Euro

pean

count

ries

FDD LTE equipment

already available but

paired spectrum likely

to be prohibitively

expensive

3400 – 3600

MHz

FDD / TDD Medium Spectrum

alrea

dy

awar

ded

in

some

Euro

pean

count

ries

Medium


licence tenders or

trading


available for FDD and

TDD.

Will need to co-ordinate with

satellite earth stations

16 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


Frequency Band



3600 – 3800

MHz

FDD / TDD Medium to

hi

gh

Spectrum to be

made

avail

able

from

2012

Medium


licence tenders


available.

3600 – 4200 MHz is a fixed

point to point band

and it is also used for


so there are potential

co-ordination issues

Table 0.1: Overview of potential frequency bands

Market Considerations

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 17


The ideal outcome would be for the European Commission to identify spectrum that can be specifically used for Smart Grids as has happened in Canada. It is difficult to predict whether this will be possible in Europe with the different competing demands for spectrum, especially in frequency bands below 3 GHz. It is therefore important, when identifying possible spectrum to take account of:

What would happen if the spectrum was awarded through a competitive process such as an auction?

What might be the potential for economies of scale?

Increasingly administrations are using auctions to award spectrum on a technology and service neutral basis and prices are likely to be higher for those frequencies below 1 GHz, with contiguous bandwidth of more than 10 MHz that support FDD operation. It will be important to match the communications requirements of Smart Grids with suitable spectrum and understand the implications of competing for spectrum with large commercial wireless operators.

There are technologies currently available, such as WiMAX that might be suitable for point to multipoint communications. While the equipment might already be available in some frequency bands, see Table 0.1 above, it should be recognised that if there are sufficient economies of scale it is highly likely the manufacturers will be willing to “reband” the equipment. However if there are only a limited number of countries that adopt a non-standard frequency band the manufacturers may be unwilling to modify the RF elements of the equipment or will charge a premium.

The multi-band option would incur additional development and production cost but if this can be harmonised across Europe these should be largely offset by the economies of scale that would result compared to country-specific solutions.

18 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


1 INTRODUCTION

There is increasing pressure on Governments to reduce their carbon footprint and the EU is aiming to reduce energy consumption by 20%, to generate 20% of energy needs from renewable sources and to reduce CO2 by 20% by the year 20206. This can only be achieved if it is possible to manage efficiently the electricity (and also gas) networks – known as Smart Grids – and that requires all aspects from the generation, to the transmission and distribution, and the usage by customers to be optimised, controlled and secure.

The emphasis currently is on smart metering but that is only the tip of the iceberg with regards to efficiently managing the electricity and also gas networks. A smart meter is just one small part of the Smart Grid. It provides real time or near real time information on the electricity or gas consumption, at a residential or industrial location, power outage notification and also power quality monitoring. Each meter needs to be able to reliably and securely communicate the information it has collected and send it back to a central location for monitoring and billing purposes. Solutions adopted to date vary considerably and include the use of public cellular networks and various other licensed and unlicensed radio technologies, such as WiFi and WiMAX.

While these relatively high latency solutions might work for delay tolerant smart metering applications they are unlikely to be suitable for the other communications elements of a Smart Grid which require low latency (e.g. less than 10ms) and dedicated spectrum to provide the required reliability and security.

A typical Smart Grid is shown in the figure below:

6 Source: “ICT for a Low Carbon Economy: Smart Electricity Distribution Networks”, July 2009.

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 19


Figure 1.1: General layout of electricity network in Europe.


Historically electricity systems have only required one way information flow back to central points. Grid reliability was assured by having excess capacity in the system and the flow of electricity was only in one direction – from central points (e.g. power plants) to end users. It can be seen from the figure above that Smart Grids have the potential to integrate other distributed sources of energy (e.g. solar, wind and wave power) of all sizes and this leads to the flow of electricity in two directions and communications also need to be two way. For example wind energy from a small turbine installed in the back garden of a consumer could potentially be fed into the electricity grid when there is excess available. Smart Grids will also provide:

20 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


Enhanced voltage control through remote sensors and distributed active devices

Improved fault detection and enhanced condition monitoring which will increase reliability and enhance preventative maintenance

Further and more enhanced automation that can optimise the operation of the network, reduce restoration times and the need for excess capacity and storage in the network

Improved security and resilience of the grid.

The challenge is to provide a communications network that can support the required real time monitoring and response – it needs an integrated, secure and fully redundant network that connects all the electricity generation, distribution and consumption locations. Wireless will be a key ingredient and therefore over the next 3 to 5 years as Smart Grids are rolled out across Europe access to sufficient and suitable radio spectrum, below 4 GHz and ideally below 1 GHz, will be essential.

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 21


2 CURRENT SITUATION

2.1 Introduction

Information provided by Utility Companies in Europe indicates that there is currently no harmonised spectrum to support the mission critical communication requirements of the fuel and power industries. Instead, individual frequencies are typically assigned on a country by country basis for applications such as SCADA, PMR and backhaul links. There is currently insufficient spectrum to meet their needs, especially for point to multipoint communications where typically spectrum in the range 415 to 465 MHz is used (e.g. in the UK the spectrum 457.5 to 464 MHz is allocated to scanning telemetry), and overall very little spectrum is specifically allocated for their use only.

In the following sections we summarise the situation in four indicative countries:

2.1.1 Italy

The power utility communications infrastructure in Italy consists of a mix of different technologies including integrated wired and wireless solutions. While previously critical core services were provided using private networks (e.g. fixed point to point links and mobile radio) they are now often provided by Telecommunications Operators over their wired and wireless Public Networks. For example when considering the most critical core services:

Telecontrol is supported via IP connectivity over a mix of wired and wireless public and private networks

Teleprotection uses point to point private wired links

Operational telephony uses cellular networks

There is no specific spectrum allocated to the utilities but there are frequencies reserved for private use which can be used and these include:

440 MHz, which supports 12.5 and 25 kHz channel bandwidths

2.3 GHz which supports 2, 4 and 8 MHz bandwidths, and

7, 18 and 38 GHz, which supports a wide range of bandwidths and bit rates (e.g. 2 to 155 Mbit/s)

However due to spectrum congestion it is very difficult to find sufficient frequencies to set up a comprehensive private wireless network and there are no specific optimised proven solutions available in the market place to meet the requirements of utility organisations.

It is foreseen in Italy that critical infrastructure for Smart Grids will need improved coverage as the currently used public networks do not reach dispersed plant in rural and remote rural areas. To monitor and control the MV / LV

22 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


segments of the grid network it is not expected that it will be necessary to transfer huge amounts of data (e.g. hundreds of kb/s) but it is noted that there are likely to be aggregation points which will need wideband transmission.

Catastrophic failures can occur on the grid at any time often due to natural events such as earthquakes and floods and it is only then that the efficacy of the communications network is proven or otherwise. The use of dependent communications provided by Public Operators is not ideally suited in such circumstances. The regulator has been approached to allocate a specific range of frequencies for utility applications – this was during the award of WiMAX spectrum.

2.1.2 Latvia

In Latvia there is currently insufficient spectrum for the utilities where there is a requirement for point to multipoint communications and wide area communications. The table below provides a brief summary:

Allocated frequencies

Is there sufficient spectrum? (Yes or No) / Reason for insufficient spectrum

Spectrum only allocated to Utilities? (Yes or No)

Spectrum licensed and shared with other users? (Yes or No)

Spectrum shared with other users and no requirement for a licence? (Yes or No)

SCADA ; M

No specific Monitoring of

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 23







critical network infrastructure component

Hz

broadband spectrum for monitoring of critical network infrastructure components is available for utilities

switching / emergency

frequencies

No specific broadband spectrum for remote switching / emerg

24 2209/EUTC/DR/v14







shut down

are allocated!

Currently use 900 /1800

ency shut down is available for utilitiesSecurity (e.g.

CCTV)

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 25







MHz (public GSM)

Backhaul

1

2

,

9

7

5

G

H

18 users;

12 users;

6 users (ISP, Telco

Inter-site data links

26 2209/EUTC/DR/v14







z

/

1

3

,

0

1

7

-

1

3

,

2

4

1

G

H

z

operators).

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 27







19,7GHz

22-22,6GHz/

23-23,6GHz

37-39,5GHz

Automatic meter reading

frequencies are

No specific broadband spectrum for AMR and Smart Metering is available for utilities

Control of smart meter

28 2209/EUTC/DR/v14







s (e.g. switching tariffs or supplier at specified times)

allocated.

Currently use 900 /1800MHz (

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 29







public GSM)

Emergency mobile radio

MHz

Worker safetyMHz

Table 2.1: Summary of current communications needs and spectrum availability in Latvia

It will not be feasible to support country wide deployment of Smart Grids using the existing narrow band point to multipoint radio communications due to the large

30 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


number of smart metering and LV / MV automation points (approximately 1 million) that will require broadband point to multipoint communications. Spectrum estimates undertaken by the utility company, Latvetnergo, indicate that around 20 MHz of spectrum for broadband should be allocated to the utilities. Depending on the application there will be different quality of service requirements in terms of latency, availability and prioritisation. It is also noted the need for harmonised spectrum for Smart Grids on a European wide basis that would lead to standardisation of the required technology and equipment, support interoperability and prospective equipment vendors and the outcome will be a cost effective technical solution.

In the table below there are specific examples of catastrophic failures that have occurred in Latvia where the impact could potentially be avoided or reduced through the deployment of Smart Grid communication networks.

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 31


Geographic location

Impact to customers (loss of supplies)

Impact to substations (failure)

Duration

23 February 2008 Storm in West and East regions of Latvia

Appr. 30 000 (of total appr. 1 040 000)

Appr. 2 800 (of total appr. 23 000 LV/MV substations)

After 2 days 700 customers and 80 MV substations still affected

14 July 2008 Storm in East region of Latvia

Appr. 4638 Appr. 450 Appr. 3 days for full recovery

24 November 2008

Storm in all regions of Latvia

Appr. 25 000 No data Appr. 3 days for full recovery

10 March 2009 Snowfall in central and South regions of Latvia

Appr. 8 000 Appr. 700 Appr. 2 days for full recovery

19 July 2009 Storm in all regions of Latvia

Appr. 20 000 No data Appr. 3 days for full recovery

32 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


Table 2.2: Examples of major events that led to significant power outages in Latvia

2.1.3 Scotland

In Scotland (Scottish Power Energy Networks) currently use fixed point to point links for voice communications between Grid control centres and strategic generation sites and sub-stations as well as for backbone as part of the Strategic Telecom Network supporting the control and monitoring of the grid. Frequency bands range from 77.6 MHz and 140 MHz for low capacity links to 1.4 GHz for 2 Mbit/s links and then the standard licensed frequency bands (6, 7, 13, 18 and 23 GHz) are used for higher capacity links. Point to multipoint links operating in the 450 MHz band are required for scanning telemetry and urban automation (SCADA).

The 77.6 MHz and 450 MHz bands are available across the UK and are managed by the JRC7 on behalf of the fuel and power industries in the UK and all the other frequency bands are licensed on a per link basis on a first come first served basis by the regulator Ofcom.

Scottish Power Energy Networks consider there is sufficient spectrum currently.

2.1.4 Spain

Information has been provided by 3 utility organisations (Endesa, UFINET and Iberdola).

Fixed point to point links are used to provide broadband access to electricity premises such as primary and secondary substations and for backbone networks where it is necessary to deploy radio repeaters. The main frequency bands that are used include 1.5, 7/8, 15, 18 and 38 GHz but there are also the 4, 6, 10, 13 and 23 GHz bands. There is no specific frequency band reserved for the utilities. There is difficulty in finding sufficient frequencies in congested areas especially where there are multiple users of repeater sites. Also restrictions on the use of the different bands has an impact for example some bands such as the 7/8 GHz bands are designated for high capacity systems only and that does not match with requirements for 2 x 2 Mbps.

Fixed point to multipoint is required to provide narrowband data connectivity to “medium” voltage premises (e.g. transformer substations from MV to LV voltage level). The available frequency bands are 167 – 171 MHz and 415 – 425 MHz and they are reserved for the utilities. However there is insufficient bandwidth available to connect all the necessary “points” in the grid network.

TETRA, trunked PAMR and PMR are used to control substations and support the automation of services and provide mobile phones to support emergency and daily operational communications. The frequency bands are 223 – 235 MHz and 450 – 470 MHz.

7 Joint Radio Company : http://www.jrc.co.uk/

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 33

http://www.jrc.co.uk/


In considering the requirements of a Smart Grid for telemetering, the combined requirements of the 3 utility companies are to connect by radiocommunications 261,000 medium voltage premises (transformer substations). It is estimated that the connections should provide a minimum capacity of 100 kbps. In addition 25.6 million meters need to be connected at 0.1 kbps per meter. However it is likely that connections for HV level (primary substations) will mainly be provided using fibre except for specific locations where it is difficult to install fibre and radio will be deployed instead. For telemetering it is not essential to ensure high availability as a minimum connectivity one or two times a day is considered sufficient.

In addition there will be a need for services such as video surveillance and remote control. The data needed for Network Automation services and network control services is required in real time and requires a high level of communications network availability.

In Spain in January 2009 the Klaus windstorm affected a wide geographic area in Northern Spain. In Galicia 200 kms of the medium voltage network, 400 kms of the low voltage network and 100 transformer centres and all the communications equipment were severely damaged during the 3 day storm.

34 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


3 KEY REQUIREMENTS

3.1 Cross Border

There are two issues that need to be considered:

Interconnected power systems

Implications of spectrum usage in neighbouring countries.

Increasingly there is integration of electricity markets and with interconnected power systems it is difficult to partition the supply along the geographical borders of, for example, the individual power stations. Therefore the reliability of supply is not specific to an individual country and interruptions in any particular system may have significant cross border impacts. It is recognised within the industry that “satisfactory handling of reliability in interconnected systems calls for effective cross border coordination, cooperation and communication among the system operators”8 and this ideally requires a common approach to the implementation of communications in support of Smart Grids. The figure below provides an indication of how the high voltage grids may be interconnected now and in the future.

Key: Red – existing, Green – under construction, Blue - proposed

Figure 3.1: High Voltage DC interconnections in Western Europe

8 Source: Bergen SESSA Conference

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 35



The use of common radio spectrum will reduce the risk of interference between neighbouring countries’ Smart Grid communication networks. It also makes it easier to co-ordinate frequency usage within border areas as it is expected that similar technologies, or compatible technologies, will be deployed. GSM is an example where common frequencies and standards have facilitated cross-border co-ordination. However it has to be recognised that there could be significant difficulties co-ordinating with countries that do not adopt a similar approach in their use of the spectrum and it may be necessary to discuss and develop appropriate cross border agreements on a country by country basis. This could prove more difficult for those countries which have borders with non EU countries and ideally bilateral discussions should be started as early as possible to understand any possible constraints that might apply to potential frequency bands. Encouraging harmonisation more widely to include non-EU CEPT countries could also be beneficial.

3.2 Spectrum Requirements

3.2.1 Bandwidth requirements

At this stage it is not possible to define precisely how much spectrum will be required to support Smart Grids but it is expected that it will be between 15 and 30 MHz9. It can be seen that there are a considerable number of additional locations (e.g. LV and MV substations) that will require connecting into the communications network compared with currently and there is already a shortage of suitable spectrum for point to multipoint applications.

This figure of between 15 and 30 MHz is supported by a comparison undertaken by the JRC in the UK. Using the Distribution Company (DNO) example shown in the figure below there are 90,000 distribution substations at 11kV level, about 50% of which the DNO says need to be under telecontrol in a Smart Grid scenario, i.e. 45,000. The JRC manages 48 UHF radio channels, each requiring 2 x 12.5 kHz, which are used for SCADA in gas and electricity sectors and nominally 24 of these channels are dedicated to electricity use. Within this 24x2x12.5 kHz (600 kHz) of spectrum the same DNO currently reaches 1400 outstations. Therefore just using a simple comparison as a first approximation the Smart Grid would require [(600/1400) x 45,000] kHz, approximately 20 MHz. This assumes that improvements in technologies will be cancelled out by the need to carry more data especially if it is necessary to monitor profile data in real time.

9 See case study on Canada in Section 5 where extensive modelling was undertaken and it was

calculated that 30 MHz would be required to support the different applications.

36 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


Note: Number of locations shown on right side of triangular block

Figure 3.2: Future control and monitoring needed for Smart Grids

3.2.2 Frequency bands

In technical terms the most appropriate frequency bands will depend on a number of considerations including the required link lengths and the need to re-use frequencies within a specific geographic area to minimise total bandwidth requirements. One important consideration is the locations of the substations are pre-determined as they already exist and they are rarely located optimally to support radio links. Planning / environmental restrictions will not generally allow the use of high towers to provide clear line of sight so it is necessary to compromise and use frequencies that can operate over obstructed paths. That is the reason why the utilities already have access in many European countries to spectrum in the range 415 to 465 MHz (e.g. in the UK 457.5 to 464 MHz is allocated to scanning telemetry). However it is important to recognise that such links, with high diffraction losses, can be vulnerable to interference from for example wind turbines and aircraft and the availability can be severely impacted during fading and may mean they are unsuitable for applications that require real time and very reliable communications.

In addition frequency bands below, for example 2 GHz can provide advantages in terms of costs as it is possible to utilise yagi or grid antennas that reduce the windloading on towers and also require less rigid structures because of their wider antenna beamwidths.

Of course one of the main advantages of lower frequency bands is the ability to achieve longer link lengths or coverage areas, but the disadvantage is the increased risk for interference over a much larger geographic area. An example of the difference in path lengths with frequency is shown in the figure below for a point to point link:

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 37


Figure 3.3: Variation in maximum link length with frequency

(Assumes: Transmitter powers of 0.25W, 1 W and 4W, 10 dBi antenna gain, QPSK modulation, 25 kHz

bandwidth, 10 m antenna heights)

The distances and coverage areas that can be achieved in practice will depend on the technology that is deployed but clearly as the frequency increases the area covered or the link distance will decrease if all other criteria remain the same.

3.3 Time Division Multiplex (TDD) or Frequency Division Multiplex (FDD)?

There are a number of Smart Grid applications (e.g. teleprotection in case of failures) that require low or very low latency and this might determine whether for these instances FDD spectrum is required.

In the case of TDD a single frequency channel is used for both the uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) but at different times. In practice TDD divides the data stream into frames and within each frame there are a number of time slots assigned to the UL and DL transmissions. Using dynamic bandwidth allows the amount of time slots used for each direction of transmission to be varied and so it is not fixed to a ratio (usually 50:50) as in the case of FDD. There is also no requirement for a guard band to separate the UL and DL as they operate on the same frequency and therefore it uses un-paired spectrum. However it is necessary to include a guard period when switching from DL to UL for synchronisation purposes and to accommodate the turnaround time and the round trip delay but it is negligible compared with the total length of data in a time slot. The average TDD latency in a PMP system (WiMAX) is 2 frames and the best case latency is about 1 frame. However the latency will very much depend on the size of the frame that is used. For example mobile WiMAX (802.16) may have a frame size of 5 ms for a single downlink and uplink – this was the frame length that was used in initial equipment but it can be varied between 2ms and 20 ms.

38 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


For FDD a different unique frequency is assigned to both the transmitter and receiver which means it is possible to transmit and receive at the same time. FDD is ideal for symmetric traffic where there is an equal UL and DL capacity requirement. The disadvantage of FDD is the need for a frequency guard band between the UL and DL channels and it therefore requires paired spectrum. The average latency in a point to multipoint FDD system is 1 frame and the best case latency is about 0.5 frames.

The figure below shows the difference between FDD and TDD. Although the figure appears to imply that the frame length is the same for FDD and TDD that is not the case. In both TDD and FDD modes, the length of the frame can vary (under the control of the BS scheduler) per frame and this allows effective allocation of on air resources to meet the demands of the active connections with their granted QoS properties. Also as already mentioned in the TDD mode, the division point between uplink and downlink can also vary per frame, but there are restrictions on the number of switching points, allowing asymmetric allocation of on air time between uplink and downlink if required.:

Figure 3.4: Comparison of FDD and TDD

In the case of very long distances in the case specifically of TDD it may be necessary to take measures to overcome the propagation delay and maintain synchronisation. However one of the reasons for TDD mobile WiMAX being the preferred option was that it ensures channel reciprocity for better support of link adaption, MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) and other closed-loop advanced antenna techniques such as beam forming.

Finally it needs to be recognised that gaining access to FDD spectrum is likely to be significantly more difficult and expensive than TDD. There is limited available paired spectrum and it is easier to identify blocks of un-paired spectrum, especially if it is possible to use a mix of frequency bands. FDD spectrum, especially in contiguous blocks of 10 MHz and above, has historically attracted a significantly higher commercial value. Therefore it is important to consider whether there are ways around any latency issues – e.g. is it an issue in both directions of communications

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 39

Down Link (DL)

Up Link (UL)

DL UL DL UL

Radio Frame

f DL

f UL

f

DL / UL switching point

UL / DL switching point

FDD

TDD


and is it possible to use techniques such a priority interrupt? However for those applications where it is not possible to resolve the latency issue FDD spectrum will be necessary.

3.4 Licensed or licence-exempt spectrum?

The advantage of licence –exempt spectrum is that it can be used without the need for licences, so is low cost and can be used immediately providing the equipment meets the minimum requirements specified for the frequency band. The operation of equipment within the licence exempt spectrum is on a no interference, no-protection basis and there is no way of limiting the number of users to reduce the risk of interference. However equipment may be required to deploy technologies, such as frequency hopping spread spectrum, direct sequence spread spectrum and “listen” before transmit, that minimise the mutual interference caused by multiple devices operating in the same band with geographic overlap. The costs associated with such technologies may offset some or all of the saving in licence fees. Also low duty cycle provides significant interference mitigation but may not be an option for more critical Smart Grid applications.

The majority of the applications associated with Smart Grids require high or very high security and also high to very high reliability. For example it is essential that data received on the distribution network is accurate if decisions are to be made on how to distribute the available power to meet demands 24/7. Also the occurrence of faults in the network need to be reported in real time and accurately to ensure the required levels of reliability, quality and security of supply. It is therefore unlikely that licence exempt spectrum will be a viable option except for smart metering where a delay may be acceptable.

This means that there is a need for licensed spectrum for most applications to ensure the interference environment can be effectively managed.

3.5 Dedicated or shared spectrum and networks

3.5.1 Shared networks

Severe weather tends to coincide with heavy demand on gas and electricity networks and it is even more important at such times to ensure reliable communications for critical reporting and control that can reduce outages through enhanced network operation. However, during severe weather conditions it is likely that there will be an increase of traffic across cellular networks for voice and data calls and also for access to the internet to download relevant information (e.g. road information and weather forecasts). It is therefore not an ideal solution to share capacity on public networks, such as cellular, unless there is a means of prioritising traffic and the operator is willing to implement such prioritisation. It will also be necessary to ensure that the cellular network has the necessary resilience to continue operation and that the loss of individual base stations has minimal impact. In general we believe the cellular networks are not designed to meet the same

40 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


requirements as mission critical networks. Therefore while public cellular networks may be an appropriate solution for the less critical smart metering communications they are unlikely to be suitable for other applications of the Smart Grid.

In Spain UNESA10 assessed the possibility of using prioritisation over GSM and GPRS with very negative results and such an approach has therefore been excluded. It should also be noted that the use of public networks to meet PPDR (Public Protection and Disaster Recovery) requirements has been considered within ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) and a number of the concerns identified would also be applicable to communications for Smart Grids and are replicated below, namely:

Security levels are likely to be insufficient except for routine operations. For example the permitted level of “security” over the air to smart phones and similar devices is limited to the restricted level

Data is often sent at a lower priority level to voice so when there is a significant use of voice services this might degrade the provision of data services

Redundancy requirements within the network such as cell sites, back-up power supplies and backhaul connections to ensure continuity of service are likely to be insufficient and networks are not designed to have overlapping cell sites to provide additional resilience. Ideally utility organisations would favour mesh networks.

Sharing networks with the PPDR sector, which is seeking access to additional spectrum between 300 MHz and 790 MHz, is also unlikely to be a solution as during incidents they will require priority access and some of these will occur during severe weather conditions when utility services are also likely to be affected.

It is therefore concluded that dedicated networks are required for Smart Grids.

3.5.2 Shared spectrum

The other consideration is whether the spectrum should be shared or must be dedicated to the Smart Grid communications. The options for sharing spectrum are normally on a time or geographic basis. There have been proposals that the emergency services could share spectrum on a pre-emptive basis11 - in normal situations there will be spare spectrum that can be used by other networks / services but in the case of an incident that spectrum is no longer available within a restricted geographic area and the other users will have to cease operation. Such an option might be suitable for Smart Grids as the significant capacity requirements generally occur in the case of a failure in the network and during severe weather conditions when it is necessary to react quickly to changes in demand. However

10 UNESA is a joint organisation of Spanish utilities

11 WiK Aegis Study for Public Safety – “Safety First :Reinvesting the Digital Dividend in Safeguarding

Citizens”, May 2008

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 41


spectrum that can be used on a pre-emptible basis is likely to have limited value to other commercial users, as their demand for spectrum is likely to be greater during such conditions.

Sharing with the military may be an option and principles for sharing between military and civil users were developed in CEPT over 10 years ago and based on:

Time sharing

Frequency separation

Geographical separation

Non-interference basis (NIB)

Geographic sharing can be a simple and effective solution as military requirements in Europe are often limited to specific locations or times (e.g. training exercises) and some military use is intended to be robust in harsh interference conditions. It works well with professional users who can co-ordinate use with military (e.g. PMSE or public safety).

There are initiatives to encourage the release or sharing of military spectrum so this might be a possible option. In the UK an analysis of how radio spectrum is used (Cave Report) identified 23 bands that are allocated to the military and suggested that the military should pay market rates and be able to trade the spectrum. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) subsequently published a consultation12 titled “A consultation: An implementation plan for reform” in May 2008. The consultation includes an audit of the bands MoD uses, and continuing spectrum needs, and identifies an initial set of frequencies to be made available for use by other parties. The Commission commissioned a study into “Optimising the Use of the Radio Spectrum by the Public Sector in the EU”,13 which has been recently published, and there is a RSPG Opinion14 on “Best practices regarding the use of spectrum by some public sectors” in which it is noted that there have been “significant national policy reviews concerning public sector spectrum” in the Netherlands and Sweden as well as the UK.

Sharing with other licensed users of the spectrum is less likely except, for example, in the case of fixed point to point links where each individual link can be assigned to avoid interference into and from other existing links. This approach is already used in terrestrial fixed link frequency bands but is not suitable for national coverage mobile and point to multipoint applications.

12 See: http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/8B9CFFD1-6C36-476A-A6C3-8A3E5635DC55/0/

dsm_consultation_report.pdf

13 See: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/ecomm/radio_spectrum/documents/studies/

index_en.htm

14 See: http://rspg.groups.eu.int/_documents/documents/opinions/rspg09_258_rspgopinion_pus_final.pdf

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http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/ecomm/radio_spectrum/documents/studies/index_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/ecomm/radio_spectrum/documents/studies/index_en.htm


4 SPECTRUM

4.1 Introduction

Based on inputs from the Energy companies there is a need for between 15 and 30 MHz of spectrum. It is likely to be extremely difficult to identify a contiguous frequency band that will meet these requirements so one solution may be to identify two or more separate bands that can collectively meet the communication needs of a Smart Grid. Also due to significant demand for spectrum below 3 GHz it may not be possible to harmonise all the spectrum so it may be necessary, especially initially, to consider that different countries may use a mix of different frequencies and that there will be a need for multi-band equipment. However it is important that the necessary economies of scale can be achieved so different solutions for each country would not be a viable option and the number of frequency bands needs to be limited.

4.2 88 – 108 MHz

This band is a much longer term possibility as it is currently used for analogue radio broadcasting (FM). Also allocations at ITU and European level are to broadcasting only so it would be necessary to change them to also allow mobile and fixed services. Such changes would need to be initiated at international and regional level. However it is noted that in the draft Radio Spectrum Policy Group Work Programme in the EU it is proposed that a data gathering exercise and analysis should be undertaken of the spectrum usage situation by radio broadcasting services. This mentions the importance of discussing the pros and cons of indicating a target date for analogue radio broadcasting (FM) switch off and assessing the efficient use of L band frequencies. Respondents to the draft have noted the high utilisation of the FM band and comment on the difficulties of migrating to digital radio broadcasting, take-up of which varies widely across Europe.

4.3 230 - 380 MHz

The current allocations and applications according to the European Common Allocation table are shown below:

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 43


Frequency band Allocations Applications

230 – 240 MHz MOBILE

Defence systems

240 – 322 MHz MOBILE Defence systems

335.4 – 380 MHz MOBILE Defence systems

Table 4.1: Allocations and applications in the 230 – 380 MHz band

There is no visibility as to whether it would be possible to release or share any of the military spectrum on a European basis as 240 – 380 MHz is a core NATO band for command, control and communication links and 10 MHz has already been released for DAB. It is unlikely, at this stage, that those countries that are planning to use the 230 – 240 MHz band for T-DAB will change their plans.

4.4 380 – 470 MHz

ECC Report 102 was published in January 2007 and addressed the need for spectrum to support Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR). In the report it is proposed to identify the band 380 - 470 MHz as a tuning range for wideband PPDR and the sub-band 380 – 430 MHz was considered the most suitable taking into account the technology available (e.g. TEDS). It is interesting to note that, at the time, a review of the 400 MHz bands could not identify a single harmonised band of 2 x 1 MHz or more that could be made available amongst CEPT countries by the date estimated for the deployment of these wideband systems.

The situation remains that it is extremely difficult to identify suitable spectrum for new applications in this range due to the considerable fragmentation of use across Europe. For example in the 406 – 430 MHz band while it is less used by military the fragmented civil use is an issue for harmonisation in the EU as shown in the figure below.

44 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


Figure 4.1: Status of 406 – 430 MHz band in 2009 in EU countries

(Source: EFIS and National Frequency Allocation Tables (NFATs))

With ongoing migration from analogue to digital PMR and also from PMR to cellular networks there may be the potential to release some spectrum but currently we have not seen evidence of this happening. There are existing ECC Decisions that cover

the use of the spectrum for PMR and PAMR. ECC Decision (06)06, which has been implanted by 21 administrations, identifies the frequency bands 406.1 – 410 MHz, 410 – 430 MHz, 440 – 450 MHz and 450 – 470 MHz for use by narrowband digital land mobile PMR and PAMR. ECC Decision (04)06, implemented in 10 countries, also identifies the band 410 – 430 MHz and 450 – 470 MHz for wideband digital land mobile PMR and PAMR.

However in some countries there may be the potential, in the longer term, to gain access to 450 MHz spectrum. In Europe a lot of countries used 450 MHz to provide analogue mobile services using different standards such as Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT 450). In a number of countries, like Russia, CDMA 450 has since been adopted as the digital mobile technology because it could utilise the limited amount of spectrum available (typically 2 x 5 MHz) and also provided significant benefits when providing coverage to rural and remote rural areas. In the medium to longer term with the availability of 790 – 862 MHz spectrum offering more bandwidth some operators may decide not to upgrade their CDMA 450 networks and the spectrum may become available for other services.

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 45


4.5 470 – 862 MHz

There may be the potential to utilise part of the current TV spectrum between 470 and 862 MHz that becomes available following analogue switchover and there are three possible options:

Digital dividend spectrum between 790 and 862 MHz that has already been identified internationally for non-broadcast use

Spectrum blocks may become available nationally due to the reduced requirement for frequencies arising from the increased spectrum efficiency of Digital TV, such as the UK’s planned release of channels 31 – 37 (550-606 MHz).

Spectrum may become available on a limited geographic basis that is not used by local TV transmitters (sometimes referred to as “white spaces”).

These options are discussed further in the following sections. In the Annex we specifically consider the potential to gain access to this spectrum.

4.5.1 Digital Dividend

4.5.1.1 Introduction

The Digital Dividend refers to the portion of the radio spectrum which will become available as analogue terrestrial broadcast television migrates to digital systems (DTV). These frequencies can be utilised by any number of services due to their excellent technical and propagation characteristics. In Europe the aim is to release 790 – 862 MHz, also known as the 800 MHz band, for deployment by non broadcasting services. There has been significant interest by both cellular and public safety services to gain access to digital dividend spectrum.

The European Commission recommended in October 2009 that the use of the digital dividend should be harmonised and has indicated that it should be used for mobile services in all member states. It was reported in December 2009 that “The EU Telecoms Council has invited Brussels to produce a technical plan for harmonising the use of mobile services in 790 – 862 MHz but emphasised the right of Member States to use the band as they see fit”15.

4.5.1.2 Potential for access to 800 MHz spectrum

At the 2007 World Radio Conference (WRC-07) the 800 MHz band was allocated on a co-primary basis to the mobile service from 2015 in addition to the existing broadcasting and fixed services. Some European countries have already included footnotes in the Radio Regulations which would allow them to use this band for mobile services before 2015 and a number have already made decisions to award the spectrum for mobile communications. For example Switzerland decided in November 2009 to allocate the band to mobile communication services, in Germany it is planned to auction the spectrum in 2010, in Finland it has been available for

15 Policy Tracker, December 2009

46 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


broadband mobile systems since July 2008 and in France it was expected that it would be available for mobile communications from the end of November 2011.

While a number of countries have not yet reached a decision there is clearly a significant number that will award the spectrum to support the roll-out of broadband mobile radio. The European Council Conclusions on “Transforming the digital dividend into social benefits and economic growth”16 recognises, amongst other points:

“The importance of the digital dividend to help bridging the digital divide and providing high speed broadband services in rural areas” and

“That access to the so called 800 MHz band (790-862 MHz) will greatly facilitate broadband service delivery throughout the EU, thereby enhancing the single market, and constituting a key element for productivity and competitiveness in the broader economy and thus a key driver for economic recovery”.

In the First draft of a Commission Decision on the 800 MHz band, which contains a proposal for the Commission Decision on harmonised conditions of use in the 790 – 862 MHz frequency band for terrestrial systems capable of providing electronic communications services in the Community there is also mention of the possible use of the band for public sector and public security purposes in some Member States17.

4.5.1.3 Guard band

The preferred harmonised channel plan for the 790 – 862 MHz band18 is shown in the figure below and is based on 2 x 30 MHz with a duplex gap of 11 MHz.

Figure 4.2: Preferred FDD harmonised channel plan

Decides 5 of the ECC Decision (ECC/DEC/(09)03) mentions that “administrations wishing to implement low power applications and PMSE19 in the centre gap of the

16 http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/trans/112001.pdf

17 “Member States may decide individually whether and at what point in time they designate or make

available the 800 MHz band for networks, and this Decision is without prejudice to the use of the 800

MHz band for public order and public security purposes in some Member States”.

18 ECC/DEC/(09)03: “Harmonised conditions for mobile/fixed communications networks (MFCN)

operating in the 790 – 862 MHz band”.

19 Programme Making and Special Events

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 47

791-796

796- 801

801-806

806- 811

811-816

816- 821 821 - 832 832-

837 837- 842

842- 847

847- 852

852- 857

857- 862

Downlink Duplex gap Uplink

30 MHz (6 blocks of 5 MHz) 11 MHz 30 MHz (6 blocks of 5 MHz)


FDD …. shall adopt the common and minimal (least restrictive) technical conditions specified in Annex 3 to this Decision”.

It is likely that many countries will want to deploy PMSE in the centre gap because of the reduced availability of spectrum for this application. Detailed sharing studies would need to be undertaken if any use other than PMSE and low power applications are proposed and at this stage it is not clear whether there would be sufficient spectrum, when allowing for suitable guard bands, to meet the needs of Smart Grids.

4.5.2 Spectrum between 470 and 790 MHz

There may be the potential for some countries to release further spectrum than the 790 – 862 MHz. This might be achieved by the introduction of more spectrally efficient digital broadcasting technologies20 which can reduce the number of Multiplexes required to support the required national, regional and in some cases local TV programmes or there might be the possibility to modify the digital plan slightly to release frequencies.

In a number of countries (e.g. Spain, Portugal and Belgium) there is already a need to revisit their digital TV plans if they are to release the 790 – 862 MHz band. It might also provide the opportunity to explore the potential to release frequencies, within a pre-determined range, between 470 and 790 MHz. For example it might be possible to consider the possibility of releasing 2, or ideally 3, 8 MHz TV channels between channels 28 and 38 (526 – 614 MHz) which while it does not provide a singe harmonised frequency band does provide a single harmonised tuning range for equipment. It would of course be necessary to ensure that a feasible tuning range is specified taking into account antenna etc characteristics and based on the example of specifying a tuning range of 380 – 470 MHz for PPDR, see Section 4.4, around 90 MHz should be a viable option.

For example in the UK it is proposed to clear further channels beyond 790 – 862 MHz as shown in the figure below:

20 DVB-T with MPEG-2 coding can typically support 1 high definition TV programme or 2 to 3 standard

definition programmes. MPEG-4 coding is approximately 2 times more efficient than MPEG-2 and can

allow more programmes to be carried on a single 8 MHz channel. The use of DVB-T2, an upgrade to the

DVB-T standard, could increase the data capacity of a single channel by as much as 50%.

48 2209/EUTC/DR/v14

Chs 21 - 30 Chs 39 - 60Chs 31 - 37 38

470 MHz 550 MHz

606 MHz

614 MHz 790 MHz

Chs 61 - 69

Broadcasting

Further cleared spectrum

PMSE

790 – 862 MHz digital dividend


Figure 4.3: Proposed additional

This would be achieved by modifying the current digital TV plan and would require discussions with neighbouring countries, including France and Ireland, to agree some changes to the existing international agreements relating to the use of the spectrum in UHF Bands IV and V (470-862 MHz). Ofcom is currently consulting on the potential uses of this band and other locally available “interleaved” spectrum21

However in the case of release of spectrum between 470 and 790 MHz the issue of potential cross-border interference will need to be considered if different frequencies, within the tuning range, are made available in adjacent countries especially with the deployment of high power broadcasting transmitters.

4.5.3 White Spaces and Interleaved Spectrum

One approach that is being considered currently is to deploy wireless communication networks within the UHF TV broadcast band (470 – 790 MHz), using frequencies that are not used by local TV transmitters. These locally unused frequencies are often referred to as the “white spaces” between the active TV transmission frequencies.

The concept of using “white spaces” within the TV broadcast bands first attracted interest in the US as a means of providing cost effective wireless access in rural areas, and it is the US that continues to dominate research in this area. This concept is referred to as “Wireless Regional Area Networks” or WRANs, typified by coverage ranges of 5 km or more and transmitter radiated powers of several watts. Such powers and coverage areas are only likely to be feasible where there is substantial geographic separation between co-channel TV transmitters.

In Europe, the UHF frequencies are used much more intensively for TV transmission and therefore utilisation of “white spaces” will be limited. However such spectrum could be attractive for fixed or geographically localised applications which can be co-ordinated with the TV stations. It would however require equipment that can tune across the frequency range 470 – 790 MHz to take advantage of available frequencies in all countries. Also, due to problems of anomalous propagation there is the potential for interference from distant transmitters and this may limit the suitability for critical applications.

There is also interest in using the “white space” spectrum for services ancillary to broadcasting, such as wireless microphones on a licensed basis and also to allow licence exempt services. In the case of the latter it will necessary to have some way of identifying and avoiding frequencies that are being used for TV transmission or other licensed use. There are essentially two ways in which this can be done, namely to refer to a geographic database of TV transmitters and other licensed users and choose a locally unused frequency, or to deploy technology that can

21 “Digital dividend: 600 MHz band and geographic interleaved spectrum Consultation on potential uses”,

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/600mhz_geographic/600condoc.pdf

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 49

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/600mhz_geographic/600condoc.pdf


detect and avoid frequencies that are already in use. In the US there is strong interest in the use of “cognitive” radio technologies to facilitate access to white space frequencies. These technologies detect which frequencies are in use for TV transmission at a particular location and use the remaining frequencies for relatively low power transmissions that could be used for fixed or mobile wireless applications.

One cognitive approach relies on physical monitoring of the spectrum to detect whether a broadcast signal is present at a particular location and so allows an alternative frequency to be deployed. This requires a highly sensitive receiver to detect the presence of TV broadcasts and is susceptible to the “hidden node” effect, where the cognitive device is shielded from the broadcast transmitter (therefore fails to detect the broadcast signal) but is not shielded from the TV receive aerial and so could cause interference to TV reception.

Figure 4.4: Illustration of “hidden node” scenario with cognitive radio device

To overcome the hidden node problem it is necessary to factor in a significant additional margin to cover the additional attenuation of the broadcast signal at the cognitive device. The alternative approach is to use location information but this requires the use of GPS or alternative techniques such as triangulation.

Work is underway in the 802.22 working group to address co-existence between these different network types and with the licensed primary users of the spectrum (TV broadcasting and wireless microphones). Various co-existence mechanisms including DFS, TPC, listen before talk, TDMA, and Message-based Spectrum Contention are under consideration.

“Interleaved spectrum” refers to TV channels that under current plans will be unused over substantial geographic areas and could therefore be used in these areas for other licensed services rather than the low power, licence-exempt applications that are envisaged for white space frequencies. As noted above, at the time of writing Ofcom was consulting on the potential future uses of this interleaved spectrum.

4.6 870 – 876 paired with 915 – 921 MHz

ECC Decision (ECC/DEC/(04)06) of 19 March 2004, “on the availability of frequency bands for the introduction of Wide Band Digital Land Mobile PMR/PAMR in the 400

50 2209/EUTC/DR/v14

wanted broadcast signal

Interferingsignal

detection of broadcast signal blocked by obstruction


MHz and 800/900 MHz bands” was amended in June 2008 to include an extension to the GSM-R frequencies (E-GSM-R): 918 – 921 MHz paired with 873 – 876 MHz. In parallel the ECC Decision (ECC/DEC/(02)05) “on the designation and availability of frequency bands for railway purposes in the 876 – 880 MHz and 921 – 925 MHz bands” was amended to include “the possibility of a GSM-R extension, on a national basis, into the bands 873 – 876 MHz and 918 – 921 MHz”.

Germany is reported as having already included E-GSM-R in their national frequency plan and licensed the railway operator. It is expected that E-GSM-R will be used in some countries on high speed railway tracks as well as areas of high usage such as shunting and urban areas22. In those countries where E-GSM-R is implemented it means there would be limited spectrum available for wide band PMR and it is expected that GSM-R technology in Europe will be in operation beyond 2020 / 202523.

In summer 2008 ETSI sent ECC a system reference document - SRDoc (ETSI TR 102 649-2) - requesting the designation of additional spectrum for UHF RFIDs and SRDs. The proposal was to use the band 915 – 921 MHz24 for RFIDs at 4W e.r.p. and spectrum above 870 MHz to meet the growing spectrum requirements of SRDs25. The ECC has been conducting a number of evaluations before deciding whether to support the ETSI proposal. In annex D of the Technical Report (TR) there is a letter from TC TETRA to ERM26 explaining why TETRA has not been deployed in the frequency band since it was made available through ERC Decision (96)04 and saying they had no comments on the draft of the TR.

There is currently a Work Item in ETSI to revise the TR to take account of more recent developments27. No decision has been made in WG FM on this proposal. There is some interest from smart metering in the 865 MHz band.

22 Source: ETSI TOR STF UF (ERM/TG34)

23 Source: ETSI TOR STF UG (TC RT / TG EGSM-R)

24 It was argued that “The major trading nations operate within the band 902 – 930 MHz” and so “RFID

tags are optimised for these frequencies”.

25 It was proposed that “To support the principles of flexible-generic spectrum and technology neutrality

for SRDs at UHF, a tuning range in the order of 20 MHz centred close to 870 MHz would be possible”.

26 ETSI ERM is a horizontal technical committee covering radio and EMC matters. ERM stands for EMC

and Radio Spectrum Matters.

27 Tests have shown it is feasible for RFID and E-GSM-R to co-exist and the terms of reference for a

study to examine “Methods, parameters and test procedures for cognitive interference mitigation for use

by UHF RFID using Detect-And-Avoid (DAA) or other similar techniques” were developed in 2009. The

intention is for a specialist task force to identify ways of facilitating sharing with GSM-R so that additional

spectrum can be allocated to RFID. One option proposed is to use intelligent detect-and-avoid (DAA) or

other equivalent cognitive techniques and another is to minimise the use of the 2 upper proposed UHF

RF channels above 918 MHz.

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 51


In the UK Ofcom issued a “Consultation on way forward for the future use of the band 872 – 876 MHz paired with 917 – 921 MHz”28 in August 2009 and it noted in the Executive Summary: “We consider that the use of the band for applications such as SRD / RFID is feasible under a light regulatory approach, it should be possible to adopt a licence exempt approach for SRDs. But potential interference into GSM900, GSM-R and UMTS900 base stations from RFID devices may be a factor to be taken account of when deciding whether RFIDs should be licence exempt or light licensed”.

4.7 1452 – 1492 MHz

The 1452 – 1492 MHz band, also referred to as the L Band, is allocated to the services shown in the table below. Those shown in capitals are the primary services and those in lower case the secondary ones. Secondary services are not afforded protection from the primary services with whom they must also not interfere:

European Common Allocation Table (Allocations)

European Common Allocation Table (Applications)

ITU – Region 1

BROADCASTING

BROADCASTING – SATELLITE

Mobile except aeronautical mobile

Broadcasting (terrestrial) BROADCASTING

BROADCASTING – SATELLITE

MOBILE EXCEPT AERONAUTICAL MOBILE

Table 4.2: Allocations for 1452 – 1492 MHz band

The 1452 – 1492 MHz band was originally allocated to the fixed and mobile services but at the World Administrative Radio Conference in 1992 (WARC-92) allocations to broadcasting and broadcasting –satellite services were added specifically for digital audio broadcasting.

In Europe the band 1452 – 1479.5 MHz was identified to provide T-DAB (terrestrial digital audio broadcasting) and the Maastricht 2002 Special Arrangement provides an allotment plan for the band and defines how international interference will be co-ordinated. The plan divides the 27.5 MHz of spectrum into 16 blocks that are roughly 1.7 MHz in size and each block can be used in specific geographic areas of a country.

28 See http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/872_876_mhz/summary/

52 2209/EUTC/DR/v14

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/872_876_mhz/summary/


The 1479.5 – 1492 MHz band has been designated for satellite digital audio broadcasting in Europe according to ECC/DEC/(03)02. There are 28 out of 48 countries that have definitely implemented the decision. The decision came into force on 17 October 2003 and will be reviewed on the basis of market demand at least 10 years after that date by the CEPT. At the time of the UK consultation on the award of the 1452 – 1492 MHz band it was noted that there were a considerable number of filings (around 120) for the band at an advanced publication stage and concluded that terrestrial use of the top 12.5 MHz band was likely to be severely constrained.

The Radio Spectrum Policy Group developed an Opinion on “The Introduction of Multimedia Services in particular frequency bands allocated to the broadcasting services” (RSPG Opinion # 5, 25 October 2006) and noted that in the case of the 1452 – 1492 MHz band there was some licensed T-DAB use but very limited and that there were restrictions from other countries outside the EU that might limit the possible use in some Member States. The possibility of Europe-wide availability of common spectrum for the introduction of multi media services (including electronic communication services other than broadcasting) was considered high at the time29.

The 1452 – 1492 MHz band is not the only one available for the deployment of digital audio broadcasting as in a number of countries it is being rolled-out in Band III (174 – 220 MHz). In the UK, which has actively promoted DAB, it was decided to auction in 2008 the 1452 – 1492 MHz band on a technology and service neutral basis. Qualcomm were the winning bidder, at a price of £8.5 million, and the licence was tradable. As far as we are aware Qualcomm has not yet deployed a network in this band although it was expected, at the time, that they would deploy their proprietary mobile TV technology MediaFLO. In other countries such as the Netherlands and Norway where the spectrum is available for licensing for digital broadcasting there have not yet been any applicants according to the information available on their NRA web-sites. As far as we can ascertain France is the main country which has used the 1452 – 1492 MHz band to implement T-DAB.

Usage of the band for Smart Grid communications might be restricted, and subject to interference, at borders depending on usage in neighbouring countries especially as fixed and mobile are only secondary allocations in the European Common Allocation table. The Maastricht 2002, Special Arrangement, was revised in Constanta in 2007 (MA02revC007) and sets down the basic characteristics of T-DAB allotments, which may be used for terrestrial multimedia services, and has established the sharing criteria for T-DAB versus other services. The use by the Russian Federation of the band for aeronautical telemetry services will probably constrain the use of the spectrum in North-East European countries. The CEPT has

29 Also in the previous RSPG Opinion on spectrum for WAPECS (Wireless Access Platforms for

Electronic Communications Services), November 23, 2005, the In the Radio Spectrum Policy Group

Opinion on Wireless Access Platforms for Electronic Communication Services (WAPECS) the 1452 –

1479.5 MHz band was identified as potentially being suitable for WAPECS.

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 53


also been considering the potential of sub-bands which could be used by PMSE equipment such as 1452 – 1477.5 MHz but in CEPT Report 32 (see section 4.9 below) it was recognised that “it may be difficult to identify a band available in the whole CEPT and administrations may have to decide which part of the L band is available on a national basis”.

4.8 1670 – 1675 MHz

At the World Radio Conference in 2003 (WRC-03) it was decided to allocate the bands 1518 -1525 MHz and 1668 – 1675 MHz to the mobile satellite service on a primary basis. ECC Decision ECC/DEC(04)09, amended on 26 June 2009, designates the bands 1518 – 1525 MHz and 1670 – 1675 MHz for systems in the Mobile-Satellite Service, with 1670 – 1675 MHz being the up-link band (earth to space). Since the World Radio Conference, in the period 2003 – 2010, there have been 586 filings for geo-stationary satellites and 18 for non geo-stationary satellites including ones from Arabsat and Inmarsat. It is therefore expected that this band will not be suitable for Smart Grid communications.

4.9 1785 – 1805 MHz

In CEPT Report 3230, 30 October 2009, which was developed in response to the European Commission Mandate on “Technical considerations regarding harmonisation options for the digital dividend in the European Union” it notes that according to Annex 10 to ERC/REC 70-03 and ERC/REC 25-10 the band 1785 – 1800 MHz may be available for PMSE (Program Making and Special Events). In the band 1785 – 1795 MHz individual licences are required but the band 1795 – 1800 MHz may be used on an unlicensed basis. It is also noted that there has been no use of the band by PMSE but there is some equipment available now. Also the 1785 – 1800 MHz band is used in some countries for other applications such as governmental and is also being considered for the deployment of WAPECS systems.

The 1800 – 1805 MHz band is being considered for the deployment of professional radio microphones.

The table below shows the allocations according to the European Allocation Table and also the ITU Radio Regulations for Region 1:

Frequency band

European Common Allocation Table (Allocations)

European Common Allocation Table (Applicati

ITU – Region 1

30 “Recommendation on the best approach to ensure the continuation of existing Program Making Special

Events (PMSE) services operating in the UHF (470 – 862 MHz) including assessment of the advantage

of an EU-level approach”.

54 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


ons)

1785 – 1800 MHz

MOBILE

IMT-2000 / UMTS

Radio microphones and assistive listening devices

MOBILE

1800 – 1805 MHz

MOBILE

IMT-2000 / UMTS

MOBILE

Table 4.3: Allocations for 1785 – 1805 MHz band

There might be the possibility to use those bands that are made available on a national basis for WAPECS for Smart Grid communications.

4.10 1710 – 1880 MHz

In Canada it has already been decided to allocate 1800 – 1830 MHz to Smart Grids and in the US there are proposals to harmonise with Canada. In Europe the spectrum 1710 – 1785 paired with 1805 – 1880 MHz was identified as the band to be used for the introduction of DCS 1800 networks in ERC/DEC/(95)03 and the applications now listed in the European Common Allocation Table are GSM and IMT-2000 / UMTS.

The spectrum is now widely used by GSM networks across Europe. However it is interesting to note that according to publicly available information there are a number of countries that have frequencies in the 1800 MHz band that are not licensed as shown in the figure below.

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 55


Figure 4.5: Not licensed spectrum in the 1800 MHz band.

(Source Aegis Systems Ltd)

The amount of spectrum is 2 x the value shown so for example in Turkey there is 2 x 45 MHz available.

There are also a number of operators that have access to more than 2 x 20 MHz of 1800 MHz spectrum, but that may mean they have less or no 900 MHz spectrum31. The figure below shows some examples:

31 It will probably become an issue of total spectrum holdings per operator if any 1800 MHz spectrum is to

be released.

56 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


Figure 4.6: Operators with more than 2 x 20 MHz of GSM 1800 MHz spectrum in a country

In some cases there is more than one entry per country and that is because there is more than one operator with more than 2 x 20 MHz of spectrum. For example in the UK T-Mobile and Orange each has 2 x 30 MHz. There is also the possibility for further market consolidation with the number of competing network operators reducing and so providing the potential to release some spectrum – again T-Mobile and Orange are an example of this scenario with the merger being agreed on the basis that 2 x 15 MHz of the 1800 MHz spectrum is handed back..

At the moment with many administrations considering the issues of licence renewal / re-award of 900 and 1800 MHz frequencies, and spectrum liberalisation32 there may be the potential to release some paired spectrum for Smart Grids. However with the pressure on cellular operators to support the rapidly increasing demand for broadband mobile services any reduction in spectrum is likely to be strongly contested but there may still be the potential with spectrum becoming available in lower bands to release some bandwidth .

32 Spectrum liberalisation is where the operators can now deploy technologies other than GSM. To

ensure equitable access to spectrum administrations are in a number of countries looking to licence

spare frequencies and in some countries to re-award spectrum through competitive processes.

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 57


4.11 2025 – 2110 MHz and 2200 – 2290 MHz

The frequency bands 2.025 – 2.11 GHz and 2.2 – 2.29 GHz may offer a possible solution to providing limited spectrum for mission critical applications. The table below provides information on the use of the bands according to EFIS33:

Frequency band Allocations Applications

2.025 – 2.11 GHz EARTH EXPLORATION SATELLITE (E-S) (S-E)

MOBILE

SPACE OPERATION (E-S) (S-S)

SPACE RESEARCH (E-S) (S-S)

Defence Systems

Fixed Links

SAP/SAB telecommand

Space Research

2.2 – 2.29 GHz EARTH EXPLORATION SATELLITE (S-E) (S-S)

MOBILE

SPACE OPERATION (S -E) (S-S)

SPACE RESEARCH (S-E) (S-S)

Fixed links

SAP/SAB & ENG OB

Space Research

Continuim measurements

VLBI observation

Table 4.4: Usage of part of 2 GHz frequency band according to the European Allocation Table

During WARC ‘9234 the space community were concerned that the bands should not be used for high density mobile or fixed applications but were willing for them to be used for low density applications such as rural wireless local loop (WLL). In the Radio Regulations there is a footnote 5.391 for these two bands which states that:

In making assignments in the mobile service in the bands administrations shall not introduce high density mobile systems as described in Rec. 1154 and shall take that Rec into account for the introduction of any other type of mobile system.

33 ERO Frequency Information System: www.efis.dk

34 World Annual Radio Conference

58 2209/EUTC/DR/v14

http://www.efis.dk/


The footnote does not apply to the fixed allocation but at the time the main emphasis was on identifying further spectrum for Mobile services. Mission critical communications would probably not constitute a high density network, under the terms of this footnote, whereas smart metering applications almost certainly would (although as previously noted this can be effectively accommodated in existing shared bands or over public networks).

4.12 2300 – 2400 MHz

The band 2300 – 2400 MHz was identified at WRC-07 for IMT and in the Radio Regulations the footnote (5.284A) says “The bands, or portions of the bands 1710 – 1885 MHz, 2300 – 2400 MHz and 2500 – 2690 MHz, are identified for use by administrations wishing to implement International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) in accordance with Resolution 223 (Rev. WRC-07). This identification does not preclude the use of these bands by any application of the services to which they are allocated and does not establish priority in the Radio Regulations (WRC-07)”.

The band is allocated in the European Common Allocation table to Fixed and Mobile as primary services with Amateur and Radiolocation as secondary services. There are two harmonised standards for the band – EN 301 783-2 for amateur and EN 302 064-2 for SAP/SAB35 point to point video links. It appears that there is mixed use of the band, mainly for military, PMSE and amateur, and in some countries there may be very little or no use of the spectrum. The figure below provides some information on the use of the band in EU countries:

35 Services ancillary to programme making / broadcasting

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 59


Figure 4.7: Status of 2300 – 2400 MHz band in 2009 in EU countries

(Source EFIS and NFATs)

In Norway a single national, technology neutral and tradable licence in the band 2301 to 2323 MHz was awarded by auction in 2006. The winning bidder NextGen Tel AS was planning to deploy WiMAX. However in the UK the band is used by Defence for data, video and telemetry links and there appears to be no possibility to release spectrum on a national basis but overall there appears to be significant potential for a geographic release or sharing of spectrum in this band as peaks of MOD demand are centred around a few specific locations36.

In Ireland ComReg (the Irish administration) issued a consultative document (09/49) on the potential release of the 2300 – 2400 MHz band. The reason for consulting on the release of the band was because it is only used “to a limited extent and in a small number of geographic areas” and it “can greatly facilitate the deployment of new and innovative technologies and services”. Document 09/7637 provides ComReg’s proposed options and licence conditions based on the responses received. Stakeholders were concerned that the 2300 – 2400 MHz spectrum should

36 See: Ministry of Defence Final Report: “Defence Demand for Spectrum: 2008 – 2027” at

http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/733C18ED-A59B-4282-BA66-98693FF0D29E/0/

spectrum2008_2027.pdf

37 See: http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/ComReg0976.pdf

60 2209/EUTC/DR/v14

http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/ComReg0976.pdf

http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/733C18ED-A59B-4282-BA66-98693FF0D29E/0/spectrum2008_2027.pdf

http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/733C18ED-A59B-4282-BA66-98693FF0D29E/0/spectrum2008_2027.pdf


not be released in advance of standardisation of the band by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). This standardisation work is being undertaken in the ETSI group Broadband Radio Access Networks (‘BRAN’) and ETSI plans to publish the System Reference Document for broadband wireless systems in the frequency range 2300 MHz to 2400 MHz in early 2010. ComReg plan to reflect the outcome in a second (final) consultation on the frequency band. ComReg has also decided that “the most appropriate licence types and combinations for this spectrum band are National, Local and possibly Closed User Group licences. However, ComReg must give further consideration as to how Local Area and Closed User Group licences can be best implemented in the band”.

There is WiMAX equipment already available for this frequency band and there have been both TDD and FDD deployments (for example in Canada the 2305 – 2320 and 2345 – 2360 MHz bands were available for either TDD or FDD).

4.13 2500 – 2690 MHz

At the World Radio Conference in 2000 (WRC-2000) the band 2500 – 2690 MHz was identified on a global basis for use by those administrations wishing to implement International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000)38 in accordance with Resolution 223 (WRC-2000). However, ITU-R also clarified that this identification does not preclude the use of these bands by any other applications of the services to which they are allocated and does not establish priority in the Radio Regulations (see RR 5.384A).

In Europe the CEPT developed ECC/DEC/(02)06 on the designation of the band 2500 – 2690 MHz for UMTS/IMT-2000 and decides “that the frequency band 2500 – 2690 MHz should be made available for use by UMTS/IMT-2000 systems by 1 January 2008, subject to market demand and national licensing schemes”. This was followed by ECC/DEC/(05)05 which decides on a specific harmonised spectrum arrangement shown in the figure below:

Figure 4.8: Harmonised spectrum arrangement for 2500 – 2690 MHz band

On 2 April 2008 the Radio Spectrum Committee of the European Commission (RSC) unanimously agreed the text of a Decision on harmonised use of the 2.6GHz band (“the RSC Decision”). The RSC Decision requires Members States to designate the 2.6 GHz band within 6 months of the Decision’s entry into force and subsequently make it available on a non-exclusive basis for terrestrial systems

38 As a result of the decisions of the WRC07 the identification for IMT-2000 has been changed to IMT.

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 61

FDD Uplink Blocks FDD Downlink BlocksTDD or FDD Downlink

2500 MHz 2570 MHz 2620 MHz 2690 MHz


capable of providing electronic communications services, subject to a number of technical parameters relating to harmful interference.

Spectrum has been awarded in Norway, Sweden and Finland and there are a number of countries planning to auction spectrum in 2010 (e.g. Denmark, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands). It is interesting to note that in the Finnish auction that finished on 23 November 2009 the TDD spectrum attracted more per MHz than the FDD, which is unusual, but is probably because there were three bidders for the three paired blocks and two bidders for the single TDD block. Therefore the outcome may not be a reliable indicator of the true value of the spectrum.

4.14 3400 – 3800 MHz

The 3400 – 3800 MHz band is harmonised for wireless broadband electronic communication services by the Commission (EC) Decision 2008/411/EC39. The European Commission had previously mandated the CEPT to identify the conditions that would allow the use of the spectrum for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA). The output was CEPT Report 15 which concluded that it was feasible to deploy fixed, nomadic and mobile networks in the 3400 – 3800 MHz bands under the technical conditions described in ECC Decision ECC/DEC/(07)02 and Recommendation ECC/REC/(04)05.

The EC Decision required that no later than 6 months after the Decision came into force Member States should designate and make available, on a non-exclusive basis, the 3400 – 3600 MHz band. It also requires the 3600 – 3800 MHz band to be made available by 1 January 2012.

The 3400 – 4200 MHz frequency band (C-Band) is also used for satellite operations and it will be necessary to co-ordinate the use of the spectrum for broadband wireless access with the satellite earth stations. The 3600 – 4200 MHz band is also a fixed point to point band and used for high capacity links in a number of countries.

The 3400 – 3800 MHz spectrum can be used by WiMAX technology (fixed, nomadic and mobile) in a number of European countries and there are TDD and FDD products already available for the band. For example the figure below shows those countries where local regulatory conditions permit the use of WiMAX in the 3400 - 3600 MHz band, according to the WiMAX Forum:

39 Commission Decision of 21 May 2008 on the harmonisation of the 3400 – 3800 MHz frequency band

for terrestrial systems capable of providing electronic communications services in the Community. See

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:144:0077:0081:EN:PDF

62 2209/EUTC/DR/v14

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:144:0077:0081:EN:PDF


Figure 4.9: European countries where WiMAX can be deployed in 3400 – 3600 MHz band

(Source: Map obtained from WiMAX Forum frequency band chart information)

However in a number of countries, Estonia, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden all the 3400 – 3600 MHz spectrum has already been awarded40. For example in 2004 the band was auctioned in paired 3.5 MHz blocks in Norway and the figure below shows the outcome. In the UK most of the band is managed by the military, but it is identified for future release, and there is a consultation on spectrum access at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/3_4ghz/.

40 Source: WiMAX Forum

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 63

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/3_4ghz/


Figure 4.10: Outcome of Norwegian auction for 3.5 GHz band

(Source: Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority www.npt.no/ )

64 2209/EUTC/DR/v14

http://www.npt.no/


5 MARKET CONSIDERATIONS

The ideal outcome would be for the European Commission to identify spectrum, by a Commission Decision, that is specifically identified for use by Utility Organisations for Smart Grids. This would be similar to the approach adopted in Canada where the band 1800 – 1830 MHz is identified for radio systems for the operations, maintenance and management of the electrical supply. It is difficult to predict whether this will be possible in Europe with the different competing demands for spectrum, especially in frequency bands below 3 GHz. It is therefore important, when identifying possible spectrum to take account of:

What would happen if the spectrum was awarded through a competitive process such as an auction?

What might be the potential for economies of scale?

5.1 Auctions

It is almost a decade since the first European spectrum auctions were held with the first two high profile auctions held in the UK and Germany. We are seeing an increasing number of administrations using auctions to award spectrum where demand exceeds supply as they are seen as being transparent, proportionate and non-discriminatory and less liable to legal challenge. For example countries such as Finland41 that have in the past favoured other competitive processes (so-called beauty contests) are now using auctions. The spectrum can be awarded on a technology and service neutral basis and the market will decide, based on price bid, the most efficient option(s).

In the following graph we have compared the amounts paid by a typical bidder in various spectrum auctions over the last decade, on a per-MHz basis, normalised by population.

41 In 2009 Finland auctioned TDD and FDD spectrum in the 2.6 GHz band

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 65


Figure 5.1: Comparison of prices paid at auction for access to radio spectrum

(Source: Aegis Systems Ltd.)

The value of the radio spectrum will depend on a number of criteria including the frequency band, the available bandwidth, whether it is paired or un-paired, and the interference environment (for example whether it is necessary to co-ordinate with other services in the same or adjacent bands or whether there are limitations placed on how the spectrum may be used). The benefit of access to lower frequency bands (e.g. 400 MHz to 1 GHz) is significant for some services such as public mobile as it is possible to extend coverage beyond the main population centres with fewer base sites than required in higher frequency bands and also improve indoor coverage. Therefore these bands are likely to attract higher prices at auction.

5.2 Economies of scale

There are technologies currently available, such as WiMAX that might be suitable for point to multipoint communications for Smart Grids. For example WiMAX equipment is already available in a number of frequency bands including we understand the 2300 – 2400 MHz, 2500 – 2690 MHz, 3400 – 3600 MHz, 3600 – 3800 MHz and 5725 – 5850 MHz bands. It is highly likely that manufacturers will be willing to “reband” equipment if there are the necessary economies of scale and that has already occurred in the case of WiMAX as additional frequency bands have been identified over time. However if there are only a limited number of countries that adopt a

66 2209/EUTC/DR/v14

£0.00

£0.50

£1.00

£1.50

£2.00

£2.50

£3.00

£3.50

£4.00

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Year

Am

ount

bid

(£ /

2x1

MH

z / c

apita

)

2GHz700 MHz2.6 GHz

Germany2 GHz

Austria 2 GHz Belgium / Greece

2 GHz

Australia 2 GHz

Switzerland 2 GHzSlovenia2 GHz

USA 2 GHz

Norway2.6 GHz

Sweden2.6 GHz

Canada 2 GHz

USA 700 MHz

Czech Rep 2 GHz

Denmark 2 GHz

New Zealand2 GHz

£6.50UK 2 GHz

Hong Kong2.6 GHz


non-standard frequency band the manufacturers may be unwilling to modify the rf elements of the equipment or will charge a premium42.

As well as the benefit of harmonised spectrum there are also significant advantages in adopting common standards for equipment provided the equipment requirements are not over specified such that they significantly add to the equipment cost compared with proprietary equipment43.

42 Comments to Aegis from a fixed link vendor when discussing the potential to utilise newly identified

frequency bands where it would be necessary to develop new RF modules.

43 See report on “Costs and benefits of relaxing international frequency harmonisation and radio

standardisation” at http://www.aegis-systems.co.uk/library/report.html

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 67

http://www.aegis-systems.co.uk/library/report.html


6 APPROACHES ADOPTED IN OTHER COUNTRIES

6.1 Australia

In the Energy Networks Association “Smart Networks Position Paper”, September 2009, it is mentioned that a number of energy utilities have encountered difficulties in getting access to appropriate spectrum for the wireless components of their smart networks on a commercial basis and have requested that 10 – 15 MHz of spectrum should be identified and reallocated for use in the rollout and operation of electricity smart networks. It was also requested that “any spectrum identified for smart network use should be allocated to users for a sufficient period to ensure that smart networks builds can be justified”.

The national regulator ACMA is currently updating its “Five year Spectrum Outlook” and one of the proposed substantive updates to the 2009 – 2013 version is to the information relating to the potential for spectrum to support area-wide and state-wide Smart Grid applications. It is proposed to include a range of options including participation in future spectrum allocations, purchase of existing spectrum licences and sharing with other industries with similar network requirements.

In response to requests from ACMA for inputs to the updating process Integral Energy said it was seeking “15 MHz for future Smart Grid applications in a spectrum as low as possible that could feasibly work for either wireless mesh or WiMAX”. Also the spectrum should be in one of the internationally recognised WiMAX bands so that commercially available equipment can be used.

It is interesting to note that in response to the proposed introduction of Smart Grid electricity applications to the 915 to 928 MHz ISM band the Energy Networks Association, that represents the Australian energy suppliers requested dedicated spectrum. The concern is that if this band is used to deploy Silver Springs Networks (SSN) then if the smart meter becomes highly active, it may occupy the vast majority of spectrum in the geographical area they are deployed, restricting access by other users.

6.2 Canada

In June 2008 the national regulator Industry Canada consulted on proposed changes to the technical requirements for fixed service in the bands 1700 – 1710 MHz and 1780 – 1850 MHz. These revisions took into account “the need for wireless spectrum to accommodate the emerging and urgent telecommunication requirement to ensure connectivity to the electrical grid infrastructure” for the deployment of specialised applications for:

energy conservation

station security

68 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


distribution automation

real time outage management

new power generation (small distributed facilities).

It was noted that:

smart meters were already being deployed, and had been mandated in some provinces,

there were new regulations for electrical station security that required enhanced monitoring of the electrical infrastructure

to implement the requirements for enhanced and expanded monitoring and control required a network with a high degree of reliability and wide geographic coverage

existing core networks (fibre and microwave) do not address the need of expanding the management and control systems to the periphery of the electrical transport and distribution system.

It was therefore considered that wireless systems are essential to ensure connectivity to all elements of the electrical power grid and a new band plan, shown below, was proposed.

Figure 6.1: Proposed Band Plan

The 1800 – 1830 MHz portion of the band would be used for radio systems for operations, maintenance and management of the electrical supply and would be licensed on a first-come, first-served basis. The 1780 – 1800 MHz and 1830 – 1850 MHz would continue to be used for low capacity and very low capacity point to point systems.

These proposals were adopted and SPSP-301.7 Issue 2 was released in June 2009 to add the agreed provisions for fixed systems used for the management of the electric supply.

The requirement for 30 MHz was justified on the basis of extensive modelling of the different applications and the figure below shows the results of the culmunative (peak) data transmission requirements over a 24 hour period for the different applications.

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 69


Figure 6.2: Culmunative (peak) data transmissions

The table below shows the cumulative traffic in an example geographic sector for different traffic types (applications) that require the higher data rates:

Traffic type (Application) Average bit rate (kbps) Peak bit rate (kbps)

Real time outage management

Backhaul

Station monitoring 2101.68 5411.83

Mobile office 1533.33

Table 6.1: Cumulative traffic for higher data rate applications

The high bit rates required for station monitoring, for example, are due to the large number of locations in the electricity grid, ranging from low voltage transformers through to high voltage, which need to be monitored to ensure the efficient, reliable and secure electricity supply.

6.3 USA

In the US the electricity, gas and water utilities are seeking an estimated 30 MHz of dedicated spectrum to meet all their critical infrastructure needs including the “growing demands of voice communications, mobile data to personnel, fixed data including Smart Grid and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) implementation, and vital security monitoring for those providing the most critical services to the public and the U.S. economy” for the next twenty years. The preferred spectrum is the 1800 – 1830 MHz band which would provide a harmonised allocation with

70 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


Canada. The Utilities Telecom Council (UTC) has urged the FCC to designate the additional spectrum expressly for Smart Grid use and also to authorise, on a secondary basis, terrestrial use of the 14.0 to 14.5 GHz band for “critical infrastructure communications”.

The FCC formally started consideration of the Smart Grid issues in August 2009. It is planned to take account of inputs submitted in response to a Public Notice issued on 4th September 2009 soliciting comments on issues relating to Smart Grid and broadband in the formulation of the National Broadband Plan which is due to be completed by mid - February this year.

In one presentation at the US Broadband Coalition addressing “Expanding and Accelerating the Adoption and Use of Broadband” on 13 November 200944 the requirements for a Smart Grid communication network were addressed. A typical communications network is shown:

Figure 6.3: US view of Smart Grid communication network

The presentation also provided a qualitative summary of the Smart Grid application requirements which are replicated in the table below:

44 Source: http://www.scribd.com/doc/22581973/US-Broadband-Coalition-Slide-Presentation-Expanding-

and-Accelerating-the-Adoption-Use-of-Broadband-Throughout-the-Economy-of-11-13-09

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 71


Application

HS (Hub-Spoke) or P2P (Peer to Peer)

Data Rate / Data Volume (at end point)

(One way)

Latency Allowance

Reliability Security

metering

Low / V Low Medium

Inter-site rapid response45

High / Low

SCADA P2P, HS Medium / Low

Operations data

Medium / Low

Distribution automation

HS, P2P Low / Low

Distributed energy managem

HS, P2P Medium / Low

45 Example is teleprotection

72 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


Application

HS (Hub-Spoke) or P2P (Peer to Peer)

Data Rate / Data Volume (at end point)

(One way)

Latency Allowance

Reliability Security

ent and control

surveillance

Medium

Medium

Mobile workforce

Low / Low

Enterprise data

Medium / Low

Medium Medium Medium

Enterprise voice

Low / V Low Medium

Micro grid management

HS, P2P High / Low

Table 6.2: Summary of Smart Grid application requirements

The information in the table above demonstrates the importance of high reliability and security of communications for most applications pointing towards the need for licensed spectrum. Also the need for low latency indicates that shared networks,

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 73


unless the traffic is prioritised, will not meet the needs of most Smart Grid applications.

74 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


7 CONCLUSIONS

Information provided by Utility Companies in Europe indicates that there is currently no harmonised spectrum to support the mission critical communication requirements of the fuel and power industries. Instead, individual frequencies are typically assigned on a country by country basis for applications such as SCADA, PMR and backhaul links. There is currently insufficient spectrum to meet their needs, especially for point to multipoint communications, and very little specifically allocated for their use only.

This situation is already far from ideal but will be compounded by the need to efficiently manage the electricity and gas networks to enable Governments to reduce their carbon footprint and achieve a 20% increase in energy efficiency by 2020. This will require a reliable and secure communications network to support the Utility Companies in monitoring, controlling and optimising all aspects of the generation, transmission and distribution of power and its usage by customers.

Increasingly there is integration of electricity markets and with interconnected power systems the reliability of supply is not specific to an individual country. Interruptions in any particular system may therefore have significant cross border impacts. It is recognised within the industry that “satisfactory handling of reliability in interconnected systems calls for effective cross border coordination, cooperation and communication among the system operators” and this ideally requires a common approach to the implementation of communications in support of Smart Grids, including harmonised frequency bands.

Of course not all of the required communications applications need access to dedicated networks to meet the necessary high to very high reliability and quality of service 24/7. For some less critical applications, such as smart metering, it may be feasible to share networks (e.g. public cellular networks). Also it may be possible to utilise capacity on fibre networks where there is a need for higher data rate fixed point to point communications but for low capacity communications, especially in rural areas, radio will be the most cost effective solution.

It is estimated that between 15 and 30 MHz of spectrum will be required and that the ideal spectrum will be below 1 GHz, but up to 3 GHz may be viable. To meet the more critical communication needs it is not considered that licence-exempt spectrum will be a viable option because it is shared with many other users and the interference environment cannot be effectively managed. Therefore it is necessary to identify spectrum that can be licensed on a dedicated or shared basis. However it is unlikely that the utilities will be able to share spectrum with most other users46

46 The exception is fixed point to point links where the spectrum is licensed on a first come first served

basis on a link by link basis.

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 75


with the possible exception of the military if there is limited geographic use of the spectrum (e.g. it is only used at specific locations and times for training exercises).

The other consideration is whether it is necessary to identify suitable paired spectrum, as gaining access to FDD spectrum is likely to be significantly more difficult and expensive especially in the lower frequency bands, or whether unpaired spectrum is suitable. The main determinant will be whether the Smart Grid applications require a low or very low latency and whether TDD can meet these needs.

The table below provides an overview of potential frequency bands:

Frequency Band



88 – 108 MHz Unknown Unknown

Need to change

alloc

ation

from

Broa

dcast

ing

only

Unknown Depends on decisions re

analogue FM radio

broadcasting switch

off. Considered

unlikely in the short /

medium term

230 – 380 MHz Unknown Unknown47 Unknown

Core military (NATO) band and

have not previously

been positive to

moving emergency

services spectrum

downwards

47 In the UK the MoD has indicated that it may be possible to release the band beyond November 2012.

76 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


Frequency Band



380 – 470 MHz FDD / TDD Low - Medium 5 years48 Medium – High. Spectrum

already used by

utilities in the band.

Unlikely to gain

sufficient spectrum to

meet full

requirements and

harmonisation across

Europe may be

difficult but might be

possible to achieve a

harmonised tuning

range. Important

band for PMR and

also different

frequencies used by

emergency services

across Europe

470 – 790 MHz Low - medium < 5 years Medium

Much depends on

administrations

replanning their

frequencies used for

digital broadcasting

and being able to

48 In the UK the MoD has indicated that 406.1 – 430 MHz may be released by November 2010. Other

countries are not so pro-active in encouraging the military to release spectrum. Also potential in previous

analogue mobile / CDMA 450 spectrum in some countries.

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 77


Frequency Band



identify a number of 8

MHz TV channels

that can be released

within a specific

frequency range.

Interference issues if

not harmonised due

to high powers used

for TV transmissions

and occasional

anomalous

propagation

conditions

White spaces in

470

–

790

MHz

band

After digital

switc

hover

which

has

alrea

dy

occur

red in

some

count

ries

and is

due

to be

compl

eted

Very low.

Intensive use of UHF

frequencies /

potential for

interference make

this an unlikely

solution

78 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


Frequency Band



Europ

e

wide

by

2012

800 MHz (790 –

862

MHz)

FDD most

li

k

e

l

y

Band is

harm

onise

d

acros

s

Euro

pe for

use

by

ECN

s

After digital

switc

hover

which

has

alrea

dy

occur

red in

some

count

ries

and is

due

to be

compl

eted

Europ

e

wide

by

2012

Would be in direct competition

with mobile operators

for whom this is a key

band.

Decisions re the future use of

the spectrum have

already been made in

many countries.

Potential award of

some spectrum to

PPDR / emergency

services may occur

but lobbying

commenced around

2006.

821 – 832 MHz

(800 Channel plan is

After digital

switcUse restricted and centre gap

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 79


Frequency Band



MHz

centr

e

gap)

harm

onise

d for

the

800

MHz

band

hover

which

has

alrea

dy

occur

red in

some

count

ries

and is

due

to be

compl

eted

Europ

e

wide

by

2012

already identified for

use by PMSE and low

power applications.

Compatibility with

cellular transmissions

in adjacent bands

likely to be

problematic

870 – 876

paire

d

with

915

–

921

MHz

Unknown

While this band was identified

for the introduction of

wideband PMR /

PAMR it appears that

a number of initiatives

have taken place that

mean there is a good

probability part will be

80 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


Frequency Band



used for GSM-R in

some countries and

the rest for SRDs and

RFIDS

1452 – 1492 Low - medium

Band is

curre

ntly

harm

onise

d for

terres

trial

and

satelli

te

digita

l

audio

broad

casti

ng

< 5 years Medium - high

The band is not the only one

available to provide

terrestrial digital audio

broadcasting, so


some spectrum.

Limited licences for T-

DAB issued.

RSPG Opinion in 2006

considered high

probability for Europe

wide availability of

common spectrum for

the introduction of

multi media services.

Possible cross border

interference issues.

1670 – 1675

MHz

Very low

harm

onise

d for

mobil

Unknown Very low

Significant number of satellite

filings so band

unlikely to be an

option

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 81


Frequency Band



e

satelli

te

servi

ce

1785 – 1805

MHz

Low - Medium Unknown Low – Medium

The band is identified for use for

PMSE but to date

there appears to be

no use of the band

but equipment is

available. Also used

for governmental

applications and

being considered for

WAPECS in some

countries.

1710 – 1880

MHzBand is

harm

onise

d for

IMT

Possibility of

gainin

g

acces

s

when

licenc

es

are

renew

ed or

now if

Low - Medium

Spectrum identified for use in

Canada for smart

grids. The cellular

operators are likely to

react strongly and

adversely to any

suggestions to

allocate spectrum to

the utilities on a

country by country

82 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


Frequency Band



spare

spectr

um is

availa

ble.

Cellul

ar

opera

tors

will

be

gainin

g

acces

s to

furthe

r

spectr

um so

might

be

able

to

releas

e

some

band

width.

basis due to the

considerable growth

seen in the take up of

data services

2025 -2110 and

2200

FDD / TDD Medium to high < 5 years High for low density

applications.

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 83


Frequency Band



–

2290

MHz

Would need to convince the

space community and

military users that it is

possible to share

spectrum

2300 – 2400

MHz

FDD / TDD Medium to high Unknown Medium.

Mixed use of the band across

Europe but might be


quickly in some

countries. WiMAX

equipment already

available.

2500 – 2690

MHz

FDD / TDD Medium

harm

onise

d for

IMT

Spectrum

alrea

dy

award

ed in

some

Europ

ean

count

ries

Medium


licence tenders or

trading


available for TDD.

FDD LTE equipment

already available but

paired spectrum likely

to be prohibitively

expensive

3400 – 3600

MHz

FDD / TDD Medium Spectrum

alrea

dy

award

Medium


licence tenders or

84 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


Frequency Band



ed in

some

Europ

ean

count

ries

trading


available for FDD and

TDD.

Will need to co-ordinate with


3600 – 3800

MHz

FDD / TDD Medium to high Spectrum to be

made

availa

ble

from

2012

Medium


licence tenders


available

3600 – 4200 MHz is a fixed

point to point band

and it is also used for


so there are potential

co-ordination issues

Table 8.1: Overview of potential frequency bands

The table illustrates the challenges facing the utilities in obtaining access to a single block of harmonised spectrum to meet the communication needs of Smart Grids. However on a country by country basis it might be possible to identify spectrum, probably not just in a single band, and the key to success will be to identify a number of frequency bands so a limited multi band option can be adopted for Europe.

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 85


A ANNEX A: POTENTIAL OF OBTAINING ACCESS TO 470 – 862 MHZ SPECTRUM

The 470 – 862 MHz band is understandably of interest to the Utility Organisations as the propagation characteristics provide the potential to achieve longer and non line of sight links to the large numbers of 11 kV low voltage sub-stations as well as the 66 kV and 33 kV sub-stations many of which will be located in rural areas.

However there is also considerable interest in the band from both the broadcasters, the current users of the spectrum, and the public mobile network operators both of whom see the spectrum as key to their future provision of services. During the initial discussions at the EU level on the potential for a digital dividend there was considerable lobbying undertaken by both the broadcasters and the mobile operators providing technical and economic arguments for access to the spectrum.

The Public Safety Organisations have also been actively seeking access to spectrum to cater for all narrowband, wideband and broadband PPDR (Public Protection and Disaster Relief) applications requiring wide area coverage. The European Commission has already initiated work within the ECC to identify suitable spectrum, and there are workshops scheduled in March to discuss the spectrum needs, and in ETSI work is being completed on a system reference document. To date there have been no decisions made on a European basis.

Digital switch-over is due to be completed in Europe wide by 2012 but in some countries it has already occurred and decisions on future use of the spectrum have been made. It is therefore unlikely, in our view, that it will be possible for the Utility Organisations to obtain access to harmonised spectrum in the 790 – 862 MHz band at this late stage. The only option would be to bid in auction but with the considerable interest from the mobile network operators in this spectrum it is likely that the spectrum will not be cheap!

This then leaves the options of further spectrum (8 MHz TV channels) being identified for release or use of white spaces / interleaved spectrum in the 470 – 790 MHz band. The first option requires administrations to replan their frequencies used for digital broadcasting and also adopt / migrate to broadcasting technologies that allow more channels to be supported on each Multiplex and where possible adopt single frequency networks that require less spectrum. The probability of being able to release a further block of harmonised spectrum is extremely small. Therefore even if a frequency range can be identified within which one or more channels can be released there will still be interference issues due to the high powers used for TV and occasional anomalous propagation conditions. It is also noted that in CEPT Report 22, “Technical Feasibility of Harmonising a Sub-band of Bands IV and V for Fixed/Mobile Applications (including uplinks), minimising the Impact on GE0649” it is

49 It should be noted that this report addressed the potential of releasing harmonised spectrum in the

upper half of the 470 – 862 MHz band (798 – 862 MHz) for cellular services.

86 2209/EUTC/DR/v14


specifically mentioned in the consequences “that the level of interference likely to arise from the implementation of GE-06 plan entries makes it virtually impossible for any country to start using a harmonised sub-band for mobile communications applications without the agreement of neighbouring countries, noting that these may not be members of the CEPT or EU/EEC in all cases. Implementation of this harmonised sub-band will therefore require bilateral or multilateral negotiations, under the procedures of the GE-06 Agreement, which have been designed to ensure equitable access to spectrum by all administrations. This process, although time consuming, will be required to maintain equitable access for all administrations, irrespective of the impact of any change of use of the harmonised sub-band on their existing broadcasting layers in the GE-06 Plan, by enabling them to either reconstitute those layers, or balance any loss of spectrum for broadcasting with the gain of spectrum for other services”. This would also apply to any other spectrum that might be released.

In the case of white spaces there are ongoing debates as to their potential usefulness in Europe as the UHF frequencies are used much more intensively for TV transmission than in the US where interest in white spaces is greatest. These discussions are also centred around the feasibility of identifying suitable frequencies in a geographic area and these need to be resolved. In CEPT Report 24, which reports on the “preliminary assessment of the feasibility of fitting new/future applications/services into non-harmonised spectrum of the digital dividend (namely the so-called "white spaces" between allotments)”the findings were:

“CEPT identified white space as a part of the spectrum, which is available for a radiocommunication application (service, system) at a given time in a given geographical area on a non-interfering / non protected basis with regard to primary services and other services with a higher priority on a national basis. The spectrum capacity offered by white spaces in the UHF band to other services will depend upon the use of the band by primary services.

Based on the decisions of the RRC06 and WRC-07 related to the UHF band, white space spectrum availability is being gradually reduced.

The controlled access of PMSE services to white space spectrum is expected to continue in the foreseeable future, taking into account the development of digital broadcasting in the frequency band 470 - 862 MHz.

The feasibility of cognitive sharing schemes has not yet been conclusively demonstrated. It is too early in the development cycle to judge the final capabilities of cognitive radio technology for white space devices.

The current CEPT view is that any new white space applications should be used on a non protected non interfering basis.

Further studies are required into the framework needed to enable the use of CR devices within white space spectrum”.

2209/EUTC/DR/v14 87


To conclude there might be options available in the 470 – 790 MHz band but they require further studies before there is any certainty as to whether they may be feasible and in the case of the release of further broadcasting spectrum this will require considerable support from the national administrations.

88 2209/EUTC/DR/v14

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