Industry Canada should adopt ITU, not U.S., standard for 2500 MHz band, industry says

Industry Canada should adopt the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) plan for the 2500-2690 MHz spectrum band, say a majority of industry stakeholders commenting for the department’s consultation on what to do with the band. During the World Radiocommunications Conference in 2000, the ITU decided to designate the 2500-2690 MHz band for broadband radio under the International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) standards. Broadband radio service supports 3G and 4G wireless technologies such as LTE and WiMax. “The number one priority is that Industry Canada adopt the ITU band plan,” Ed Prior, Telus Corp.’s director of government and regulatory affairs, told The Wire Report. The outlier on the 2500-2690 MHz band has long been the United States. While Canada traditionally has tried to harmonize its spectrum use with the U.S., the parties involved in the consultation agree that it would be better to follow the international lead. “Simply put, the U.S. band plan is out of step with global developments,” said a Sept. 10 submission from Inukshuk Wireless, a joint venture between Bell Canada and Rogers Communications Inc. “It was built out of a series of compromises in 2002 which are no longer relevant, since equipment has evolved towards global markets. While Inukshuk would agree that, historically, Canada has harmonized with U.S. band plans (and for good reason), we strongly believe that, in this case, this would be a grave mistake.” Rob Berezowski, a senior engineer for strategic planning with SaskTel, said that the main difference between the American and international plans for the 2500-2690 MHz spectrum band is that they use different sized spectrum blocks. The American model operates under 5.5 MHz channels while the ITU plan is built on 5 MHz channels, or “blocks.” Clearwire Corp. owns most of the 2500-2690 MHz spectrum in the U.S. and cannot synchronize with international carriers because the spectrum blocks do not match up. In Canada, the 2500-2690 MHz band is now used for fixed wireless services. Earlier this year, Inukshuk bought $80 million worth of spectrum in the 2500-2690 MHz band from Craig Wireless to expand its wireless services. Inukshuk uses the spectrum to provide a wireless broadband service of up to 3 Mbps in 45 cities and over 200 rural markets. SaskTel also uses the 2500-2690 MHz band to offer wireless broadband Internet service to thousands of rural customers in Saskatchewan. The Crown corporation said a switch from its current fixed wireless service to the more flexible broadband radio service would require about three years to complete. Berezowski said SaskTel operates 55 towers for its fixed wireless network and that it would have to change the receiving equipment at each customer’s home to accommodate LTE or WiMax. “Right now it’s fixed spectrum, and when it goes to BRS it will be completely flexible so you can do anything you want,” Berezowski said. “You can do mobile, broadcast or fixed.” He said SaskTel has also agreed to return one third of its spectrum in the 2500-2690 MHz band—in accordance with Industry Canada’s 2006 policy for the band—in exchange for the flexibility it will get under the broadband radio service designation. Inukshuk said in its submission that the 2006 policy requiring the one-third spectrum clawback unfairly limits the spectrum that the incumbent spectrum holders can retain. Under the ITU plan, two types of technologies send and receive transmissions through “paired blocks” of spectrum in multiples of 5 MHz. “When you see these spectrum assignments for cellular services, if you actually look at the spectrum blocks being offered, they are paired blocks,” Ian Munro, a spectrum expert and independent consultant, told The Wire Report. “There is a send block and a receive block.” Industry Canada’s 2006 policy for the band planned to set aside 66 MHz for auction to new entrants. But if the department chooses to follow the ITU plan for the band, the 66 MHz cannot be divided into 5 MHz blocks—because 66 is not a multiple of five. That’s an issue for Telus, which says it wants more spectrum to be made available to new entrants. “What they did is they went down from 66 to 60,” Prior said. “But what we proposed is to go a little bit above 66. So we’re saying go to 70 MHz.” Prior said the 2500-2690 MHz spectrum band will help “complete the picture”—along with the auction of the 700 MHz band—for the rollout of Telus’ LTE technology. “The iPhone and the Android phones are bandwidth hogs and we need more spectrum,” Prior said. “700 MHz is great for its propagation characteristics and the 2.5 GHz is good for capacity and because it will be global, whereas the 700 may not be global.” He said international recognition of the 2500-2690 MHz band for broadband radio services will facilitate international roaming. The 2500-2690 MHz band was licensed to SaskTel and Craig Wireless in 2001. Inukshuk has since purchased Craig Wireless’ spectrum. Those licences expire on March 31, 2011. Industry Canada has set March 23, 2011, as the transition deadline to move the 2500-2690 MHz band to broadband radio service. jmigneault@thewirereport.ca

Industry Canada should adopt ITU, not U.S., standard for 2500 MHz band, industry says

News | September 16, 2010

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