Spectrum harmonisation in Europe:two case studies

Thomas Ewers,

Chairman, ECC

Policy Tracker Latin America Spectrum Conference

Mexico City, 7th September 2011

Spectrum harmonisation in Europe: two case studies

• CEPT and ECC: who we are and what we do

• The ECC approach to cognitive radio

• The ECC foundations for the Digital Dividend

• German auction of Digital Dividend Spectrum

• ECC cooperation with Latin America

The CEPT – what it is

• What the CEPT is

• National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs)

• Independent voluntary association; defined by its ‘Arrangement’

• Its objectives are reached through tangible outputs and mutual support

Where the ECC fits in CEPT

• CEPT’s structure is defined by three separate areas of activity

CEPT Organisation

Presidency

CEPT Assembly

CERP

ECCECO

Council

Com-ITU

Working GroupFrequency Management

(WG FM)

Working GroupRegulatory Affairs

(WG RA)

Working GroupSpectrum Engineering

(WG SE)

ConferencePreparatory Group

(WG CPG)

Working GroupNumbering and

Networks (WG NaN)

CommitteeTask Groups andProject Teams

Working GroupPolicy

Working GroupUPU

Support from ECO

Updated: June 2011ECO is the permanent office of CEPT established in Copenhagen

The Chairmen of the Committees (ECC, CERP and Com-ITU)form the Presidency of CEPT

PT 1 – PP 10 prep.Constitution & Convention

PT WTDCPrep. WTCD-10

PT 3 – PP 10 prep.WSIS, Internet, ITR

PT 2 – PP 10 prep.Financial & Personnel

matters

European regulatory framework

• Three actors at the European level

Role of the ECC in Europe

• Consensus and voluntary character: flexible instrument of the national administrations

• Technical expertise• EU mechanisms recognise that most regulatory responsibilities

are applied at a national level (European Commission focuses on single market issues)

• Range of subjects: ‘high profile’ and ‘low profile’:

…all are important• Geographical reach

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ECC structure

ECC

WG FMFrequency

Management

WG SESpectrum

Engeneering

WG NaNNumbering and

Networks

CPGConferencePreparation

ECO

PT1IMT

Matters

Steering Group(ThinkTank)

Structure follows areas of activity

ECC key outputs

• Impact on industry

• ECC Decisions• CEPT Reports• ECC Reports• ECC Recommendations

• Information exchange between members

• European Common Proposals to WRCs

Harmonisation – what we mean by it today

• Designation of frequency ranges for one or more purposes

• Technical conditions applying to these designations• Power limits• Bandwidth specifications• Date related provisions• Other implementation aspects: e.g. mitigation techniques.

• Trend towards technological and service neutrality

Harmonisation – the benefits

• Economies of scale in manufacture

• Consumer benefit in device portability

• Avoid inefficiencies in the interference

zone either side of the national boundaries

Pre-harmonisation: Cognitive Radio

• Potential benefits of harmonisation

• Common technical conditions in behaviour and organisation of systems with a cognitive dimension

• Common strategic assumptions in use of frequency bands• Clearer signals to manufacturers: faster progress of equipment

to market; • Pooling of expertise

ECC approach to Cognitive Radio - activities

• Major workshop January 2009

• Correspondence Group on White Space Devices in UHF

• Spectrum Engineering Project Team (SE43) established conclusions on WSD in UHF

• Ongoing Correspondence groups on frequency management, regulatory and spectrum engineering aspects

ECC approach to Cognitive radio – main elements of policy

• A cognitive element is already important in some mitigation techniques

• Cognitive sensing is not yet mature for devices more powerful than SRDs

• Database-only approaches could be a practical intermediate step if they are not too ambitious in scope

• Recognise scepticism about the Cognitive radio business model in short term

Digital Dividend

• A controversial concept in 2006

• RRC06 was for broadcasting;• ‘Clause 42’ opened the door• Most saw Digital Dividend as not implementable in Europe.• Others saw once-in-lifetime opportunity; economics of scale for

new services

Digital Dividend in Europe: the first principles

• ECC established a Task Group (TG4)

• Focused on hypothetical future in 2015• July 2007: CEPT Report 22

• “harmonisation is feasible…if it is not mandatory”

• decisions on use should be left to administrations (within GE06)

• no prejudice to national licence conditions

• Then WRC07: allocated 790 – 862 MHz for mobile as well as broadcasting

Making the Digital Dividend an efficient and pratical reality

• Numerous deliverables:• Harmonised conditions for MFCN in the band 790-862 MHz (ECC Decision)• Frequency planning and frequency coordination for terrestrial systems for Mobile Fixed Communications Networks

in the frequency band 790-862 MHz (ECC Recommendation)• Rearrangement activities for broadcasting services in 790 - 862 MHz (ECC Report)• DVB-T performance in the presence of UMTS (ECC Report)

• CEPT Reports:• Frequency (channelling) arrangements for the 790-862 MHz band”

(Task 2 of the 2nd Mandate to CEPT on the digital dividend) • The identification of common and minimal (least restrictive) technical conditions for 790 - 862 MHz for the digital

dividend in the European Union• Guideline on cross border coordination issues between mobile services in one country and broadcasting services

in another country• Continuation of PMSE operating in the UHF, including the assessment of the advantage of an EU approach • Technical Roadmap proposing relevant technical options and scenarios to optimise the Digital Dividend • Feasibility of fitting new applications/services into "white spaces" of the digital dividend • Technical Options for the Use of a Harmonised Sub-Band in the Band 470 - 862 MHz for Fixed/Mobile Application

(including Uplinks) • Technical Feasibility of Harmonising a Sub-band of Bands IV and V for Fixed/Mobile Applications (including

uplinks) • Compatibility between “cellular / low power transmitter” networks and “larger coverage / high power / tower”

networks • Least restrictive technical conditions for WAPECS frequency bands

Making the Digital Dividend an efficient and pratical reality

7

8

791-796

796-801

Option

3

4

5

6

1

2

TDD TDD TDD TDD

TDD TDD

TDD TDD TDD 5 MHz TDD TDD TDD 5 MHz

TDD TDD TDD TDD

TDD TDD

TDD TDD TDD TDD TDD 5 MHz

5 MHz

5 MHz TDD TDD

TDD

TDD TDD TDD 5 MHz TDD TDD TDD TDD

TDD TDD TDD TDDTDD TDD TDD TDD TDD TDD TDD

801-806

UL3 UL4 UL5 UL6DL1 DL2 DL3 DL4 DL5 DL6 UL1 UL2

821-832832-837

837-842

842-847

806-811

811-816

816-821

847-852

DL1 DL2 DL3 5 MHz 5 MHz TDD TDDUL1 UL2 UL35 MHz TDD TDD TDD

852-857

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DL1 DL2 DL3 DL4

DL1 DL2 DL3 DL4 UL2 UL3 UL4 UL5

TDD5 MHz 5 MHz 5 MHzUL1 UL2 UL3 UL4

TDD 5 MHz5 MHz

TDDTDD

UL1DL5

Restricted blockGuard bandCentre gap

790-791

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

Guardband

DownlinkDuplex

gap Uplink

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

• A lot of detailed technical provisions…..

Digital Dividend: Constraints in Europe

• RRC06: principle of “equitable access”

• Much of the GE06 plan needs to be renegotiated to achieve equity in the reduced size of band

• Other legacy systems: ARNS in Russia and some neighbouring countries: protection requirements can constrain mobile plans

Channel:

in remaining in the digital broadcast band dividend band

Digital Dividend case history: Germany

Technical regulationaspects

Competition andeconomicaspects

Legal and procedural implementation

International specifications and agreements

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Approach in Germany

Approach in Germany

Award of 360 MHz spectrum in one single auction

• combines award at 1.8/2/2.6 GHz with award at 800 MHz

• one single auction enables spectrum combinations for operators

• avoids artificial scarcity

• spectrum auctioned in abstract blocks if possible and in concrete

blocks if necessary

• technology and service neutrality for Electronic Communications

Services (ECS; can be used for mobile, fixed or nomadic systems or

applications)

• spectrum cap and coverage obligations in the band 800 MHz

© Bundesnetzagentur 21

German Auction 2010

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Legitimising procedures

Procedures must be in line with the Telecommunications Act and Community law• open • non-discriminatory• transparent

Instruments• publication of key elements• public consultations• hearing the parties concerned (ie PMSE, broadcasting)• participation of the federal states

Judicial review

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Preparing the auction at 800 MHz / 1.8 / 2 / 2.6 GHz

2005 Consultations on the availability of spectrum at 2 / 2.6 GHz

2007

Consultations on award at 1.8 / 2 / 2.6 GHzPresident's Chamber decisions on the order for an award the choice of an auction

2008President's Chamber decision on the award conditions

2009

Consultations and decisions of the President's Chamber on combining the award of spectrum at 800 MHz with 1.8 / 2 / 2.6 GHz the auction rules

April/May 2010 Auction conducted

The German auction – a look back

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Spectrum cap for 800 MHz

Spectrum cap for the 800 MHz band:

General rule: acquisition of spectrum limited to 2 x 20 MHz for the 800 MHz band

But: spectrum assigned in the 900 MHz band also has to be taken into account

This meant for • E-Plus/O2: max. 2 x 15 MHz• Voda./T-Mobile: max. 2 x 10 MHz• Newcomers: max. 2 x 20 MHz

Spectrum cap for 800 MHz

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Coverage obligation for 800 MHz

Each federal state ("Land") compiled its own list of areas needing coverage

In every Land, the towns and districts are to be provided with broadband access in four stages

Degree of coverage: 90% of the population by 2016 in each Land in listed areas

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Balancing of interests

All the different interests have to be taken into account and balanced against one another.

Examples:

Balancing the spectrum requirements of new users or technologies with the need to preserve the rights of existing licence holders in adjacent spectrum Avoid interference (keyword: balancing cable, DVB-T and LTE at 800 MHz)

Balancing the spectrum requirements of new users or technologies with the rights and interests of licence holders in the same spectrum (general authorisation for wireless microphones until 31 December 2015) Migration concept is meanwhile offered, including individual authorisations in other bands.

Flexibilisation of existing usage rights and calls for reallocation of the 900 MHz spectrum

Key auction elements

Key auction elements Preparation time 4 years Frequency spectrum 360 MHz Number of applications to qualify 6 Number of bidders 4 Duration of auction 6 weeks Number of rounds 224 Auction revenues Almost 4.4 billion euros

© Bundesnetzagentur 28

Outcome of the auction

95 MHz70 MHz

99 MHz 95 MHz Telekom

Vodafone

E-Plus

TelefonicaO2

approx total 360 MHz

© Bundesnetzagentur 29

Highest bids per operator

€1,422,503,000 Vodafone

€1,378,605,000 Telefonica O2

€283,645,000 E-Plus

€1,299,893,000 Telekom

ECC cooperation with Latin America

• ITU

• CITEL

• Website resources: www.cept.org/ecc

• Portugal-Brazil cooperation agreement; and ARCTEL-CPLP

• REGULATEL – Portugal, Spain, Italy as observers

Spectrum harmonisation in Europe:two case studies

Thomas Ewers,

Chairman, ECC

Policy Tracker Latin America Spectrum Conference

Mexico City, 7th September 2011