Text of Broadband Services: Spectrum and Applications
C-band Spectrum Update2
Agenda
• Is sharing possible?
• Current use of C-band
• Is sharing possible?
• Supporting organizations and next steps
Africa’s C-band Satellite User Groups: Achieving Policy Goals and
Economic Objectives
Corporate Networks
Peace Keeping
Disaster Preparedness
Figures and examples from Euroconsult study
• Close to 50 satellites covering at least part of Africa with
C-band capacity in 2014, out of around 72 satellites covering the
region. Overall, satellite operators supply a total capacity of ~14
GHz in C-band in 2014 in Africa (~50% of “regular” capacity supply
in the region, i.e. excluding HTS proprietary military
satellites).
• Satellite capacity usage in C-band stood ~10.527 GHz in Sub
Saharan Africa (“SSA”) in 2013, corresponding to a fill rate close
to 80% of capacity supplied, and to around 58% of the total
satellite capacity used in the region.
• A recent trend in Africa has been the emergence of
regional/national systems. All satellites procured by organizations
in SSA (i.e. Rascom, Nigcomsat, DRC and Angola) are carrying a
C-band payload. Information available suggests that the C-band
represents 20%-70% of the satellite capacity, with an average of
~45%.
Figures and examples from Euroconsult study
Education and health
Air nav. & safety, police and security networks
Banking
and uninterrupted communications (>99.9% availability) that only
C-
band can provide
Water & agriculture E-administration
Oil & gas, mining
Others
50km
8 countries (over 50 million people) are 100% dependent on
satellite for international connectivity
8
An estimated 40% of sub- Saharan Africa will not have access to
broadband without greater use of satellite as complimentary
technology.
40%
341 million people in sub- Saharan Africa live beyond a 50km range
of terrestrial fibre optic network
Most of Africa’s population is concentrated in some of the most
rainy areas
Bridging the digital divide
The Future of Broadcasting
• C-band is used to deliver programmes via terrestrial networks to
140 million users in Africa
• DTT will be key growth driver of TV penetration
• DTH is another key growth driver as satellite operators focus on
growing free-to-air and free-to-view audience on the
continent
• Strong demand growth for HD channel
86 million
Efficiently expanding Rural Networks
850 operators need to extend 2G, 3G and 4G service to remote areas
(Informa)
HTS and small-cell base stations are making rural network expansion
profitable for mobile operators
• Allocates bandwidth dynamically • Load sharing in times of high
traffic/site and
congestion of cellular network • Use link as primary or back-up
solution
• Current use of C-band
• Is sharing possible?
Unique Attributes of Satellite C-band services
• C-band satellite services cannot easily be replicated at other
satellite bands or via terrestrial means
• Geographic reach. C-band easily covers entire continents and
oceans.
• Economically viable for intercontinental and global
communications
• Efficient for Smaller or hard-to-reach markets and low density
regions
• Particularly ideal for point-to-multipoint applications
• Resistance to rain-fade, making it better suited for tropical or
high-rain areas.
• Current use of C-band
• Is sharing possible?
• Supporting organizations and next steps
Wrong assumptions from the IMT • Wrong assumptions leading to
figure of 1,960 total megahertz of spectrum
needed by IMT by 2020
– based on the amount of terrestrial mobile spectrum that may be
needed in the very most densely populated locations in the
world
– the report’s estimates, even for the most densely populated
locations, are substantially overestimated by least two orders of
magnitude (a factor of 100 or more)
– user densities assumed in excess of 100,000 users/km2, with some
entries higher than 200,000 users/km2. (most densely populated
urban areas rarely exceed 30,000 inhabitants/km2)
– excessive expectations about the use of super-high-speed data
services such as streaming high definition video
– underestimation of Wifi offload
There is Still Plenty of Spectrum Available to be Licensed
• Across the world less than 50% of mobile spectrum is licensed and
even less of it is in use
• In Nigeria, a potential total of 1025 MHz could be used for IMT
services; 825MHz is already allocated for IMT at regional level;
only 420 MHz licensed.
• Same for Namibia, Tunisia, Botswana, Uganda (can still license 4
times the current amount of MHz)
• Despite the fact that a significant majority of Region 1
countries opted in for the footnote, very little implementation of
IMT in these bands has been observed
Inadequacy of C-band for the IMT • Inadequacy of C-band for mobile
services:
– effective range of a macro-cell mobile base station in C-band is
about 2 kilometers in uncluttered conditions, far less than in
lower spectrum bands
– this would dramatically escalate terrestrial network construction
costs
– very poor penetration of buildings, particularly modern “green”
construction, resulting in very poor reception indoors
• Other options for IMT: e.g. “digital dividend” broadcasting
spectrum released as a result of digitalization of broadcasting
channels and the release of surplus spectrum
• Current use of C-band
• Is sharing possible?
• Supporting organizations and next steps
• ITU studies – Studies have concluded that protection distances of
between 51-430 km are necessary to allow co-frequency sharing
– Adjacent band protection distances to avoid LNB overload of FSS
receivers are between 10-31 km
• Government, strategic, and commercial FSS services in the C-band
will suffer:
• WiMAX testing led to 30% of TV households in Bolivia missing some
of World Cup 2006
• Similar testing in Hong Kong led to 300,000 households across
Asia to lose their TV service
Sharing between FSS and IMT is not feasible
Distortion of Received FSS Spectre by WiMAX Signal
Intermodulation products WiMAX
• Current use of C-band
• Is sharing possible?
ICAO ‘No Change’ Position at WRC-15 Agenda Item 1.1
To oppose any new allocation to the mobile service in or adjacent
to:
- frequency bands allocated to aeronautical safety services (ARNS,
AM(R)S, AMS(R)S); or
- frequency bands used by fixed satellite service (FSS) systems for
aeronautical purposes as part of the ground infrastructure for
transmission of aeronautical and meteorological information of for
AMS(R)S feeder links, unless it has been demonstrated through
agreed studies that there will be no impact on aeronautical
services.
UN World Food Program WRC Position • “WFP delivers food assistance
to nearly 90 million beneficiaries around the
globe. To efficiently full-fill the mandate, our field operations
critically depend on the global satellite network, operating in
excess of 240 sites on all continents.
• All of these sites operate in the C and extended-C segment of the
frequency spectrum. Needless to say that WFP supports any
initiative that will assure an interference free, seamless service
as we experience today.”
A wide Support in Favor of No Change “No Change” for Agenda Item
1.1 is further supported by:
• Nigeria, Senegal and a growing list of African
administrations
• The International Maritime Organization
• The World Meteorological Organization
• Most of South Eastern Asia nations
• RCC (South East Europe) countries
ATU Common Position
• In Nairobi in July, the African Telecommunications Union (ATU)
voted a common position in favor of “no change” for the band 3.6
GHz to 4.2 GHz.
Marie-Amandine Coydon
Agenda
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Africa’s C-band Satellite User Groups: Achieving Policy Goals and
Economic Objectives
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ICAO ‘No Change’ Position at WRC-15
UN World Food Program WRC Position
A wide Support in Favor of No Change
ATU Common Position