National Frequency Allocation Table, Licensed vs. Unlicensed spectrum use

1. International Telecommunication UnionTelecommunications Development Bureau National Frequency Allocation Table, Licensed vs. Unlicensed spectrum use Dr. Arturas Medeisis ITU-BDT Spectrum Management Expert ITU Regional Workshop on Efficiency of the Frequency Spectrum Use in the Arab Region Amman-Jordan, 5-7 Dec. 2011

2. Scope of presentation • Role, principles and structure of NFAT • Developing and publicising NFAT • Licensing status of different services • Comparative overview of different licensing types: • individual • general == un-licensed use • light-licensing ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

3. Role of NFAT • Most important piece of national SM legislation Policy Telecoms Law, NFAT, rules Practice Artefacts Radio Market Monitoring Enforcement NRA Licence Individual General ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

4. Role of NFAT (II) • The legal instrument for transposition of ITU RR provisions into national law • Sets the founding and ground-rules for the use of radio spectrum • May contain some additional legal/technical info: • type of licensing • technical provisions (channelling, power limits, etc.) • future strategy for the frequency band • Important to keep in mind the balance of providing additional information vs. consideration of frequency of updates! ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

5. Principles of NFAT • Consistency with ITU RR provisions for respective region: • NFAT may specify not all services allowed by RR for given region/frequency band! • Consistency with any applicable regional spectrum harmonisation initiatives • Sub-allocations and designations to specific uses/applications: • E.g. RR: Mobile Service -> NFAT: Public Cellular ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

6. Principles of NFAT (II) • Important role of NFAT as setting the national departmental SM limits (if any!): • e.g. civil vs. military frequency bands • domains of specialised authorities (broadcasting, aeronautical, maritime) • although ideally all spectrum management should be concentrated in the hands of one authority for the sake of maximum efficiency! ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

7. Structure of NFAT • Terms and definitions • NFAT (sometimes different tables for different parts of spectrum) • Applicable international footnotes • National footnotes ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

8. NFAT examples (I) ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

9. NFAT examples (II) ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

10. NFAT examples (III) ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

11. Developing and maintaining • The NFAT is a living document! • The most obvious updating cycle is linked to the WRCs, however more frequent changes might be needed depending on national content • Important to include all stakeholders/major spectrum users into the review and updating process: • to ensure most optimal partitioning of spectrum • to ensure understanding and commitment by all spectrum users ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

12. NFAT publication • Traditional way: hard copy (PDF on the website) • Fancy way: wall charts • Increasingly: electronic online databases! ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

13. Electronic publication example www.rrt.lt ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

14. Licensing status • May be embodied directly in NFAT or, by default, by a principle of exclusion: • every radio apparatus which is not granted any special spectrum access rights by separate governmental order is subject to individual license • i.e. the users may look up any “special spectrum access orders”, and if their desired apparatus/network/radio frequency band is not provided for, they should apply to NRA for licence ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

15. Individual licensing • Hence the default type is Individual Radio Apparatus Licence: • given equipment type • at a given place • with a given antenna (type/gain/height) • at a given frequency channel(s) • This is the absolute safest harbour for both NRA and the user as it provides maximum certainty and security • But more elaborate types are required to cope with modern times... ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

16. Unlicensed spectrum use • Also known as General Authorisation • Establishes use of radio devices without individual authorisation • Is suitable for radio services/devices that have self-containable interference potential • Two variants may be distinguished: • Licence-exempt application • Commons Band or ISM Band ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

17. Licence-exempt applications • Licence-exempt access usually means a an order exempting very specific application(s) from individual licensing: • e.g. Mobile phones, Short Range Devices, VSAT, radio amateurs etc • may be one or more bands associated • some “blanket” conditions are imposed, i.e. maximum power limit, adherence to some co-existence protocol requirements, compliance with OOB limits, etc. (these often defined in the “equipment standard”) ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

18. Commons Band • In this case the order decrees a certain band available for use by “any device” : • best example – 2.4 GHz ISM band • still some “blanket” conditions are necessary to contain the interference, but expressed in a more general way, such as maximum power limitation or other similar generic (technology neutral) requirements of RF emissions, cf. well known example of FCC Part 15 rules ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

19. Benefits of unlicensed use • For industry: • easier development of low cost wireless devices • economies of scale, cheap RF modules for commons bands • harmonisation between different countries • simplicity for users • For NRAs: • reduction of administrative work • no need for planning, coordination • providing for development of innovative industries ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

20. Drawbacks of unlicensed use • For industry: • no protection from interference • no quality of service assurance for users • usually quite low power limits reduce communications range • For NRAs: • uncontrolled growth in number of devices may bring interference to unacceptable levels • marginal loss of licensing revenues ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

21. Light-licensing (I) • A novel type of licensing, suitable for services which: • are characterised by high and fluid demand • have a significant mutual interference potential • yet their protection can be established by simple means/calculation method • In this case it might be easier for NRA to withdraw from daily handling of these numerous coordination requests • Instead providing some kind of simplified notification or even automated self-service licensing, e.g. user self-registration of radio devices in an online database with automated interference check • hence, simplified/self-service==light ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

22. Light-licensing (II) • Having some kind of registration procedure allows: • control/limit the number of devices • collect some nominal fees, both as means of incentive pricing and to recover licensing costs (i.e. IT application/database maintenance costs) • Still, even “light” registration requires certain professionalism on the part of the user/operator ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

23. Light-licensing (III) • Examples of services/applications considered suitable for “light-licensing”: • GNSS ground repeaters • repeaters in public cellular systems • VSATs in harmonised FSS bands • FWA/BWA base stations in dedicated bands (e.g. 5.8 GHz) • mm-band short-to-medium range (1-3 km) FS Point-to-Point links • Radio Amateur, Maritime (Ship) stations ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

24. Light-licensing implementation • Via online licensing systems of NRA ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

25. Comparison of different regimes Source: CEPT ECC Report 132 ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

26. General AuthorisationsIndividual authorisations Authorisation: Licence exemption License: Administrative assignment License: Market mechanisms Licensing regime: Light Licensing (registration/ notification) Flexibility and spectrum trading Generic uses Specific uses Management approach: Private commons Collective use of Spectrum Increasing protection No fee Cost recovery Incentive prices Fees set by market General picture Source: CEPT ECC Report 137 ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

27. Other important novel terms • Underlay spectrum access: • a kind of unlicensed spectrum use based on assumption of secondary non-protected non-interfering very low power access, i.e. with emissions below the noise levels of primary service, hence “underlay”, example: UWB • Overlay spectrum access: • future technology of “intelligent” interspersing of secondary transmissions in the unused spectrum spaces of primary user. Also known as Dynamic Spectrum Access. Most advanced development: TV White Space Devices ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

28. Conclusions • The NFAT is a very important regulatory document that sets the ground rules for national SM • The choice of licensing regime for given frequency band is not a trivial task • Novel licensing regimes, such as Light-Licensing or Unlicensed use (as well as Underlay and Overlay uses) may bring important degrees of flexibility for NRAs and facilitate more efficient use of spectrum through deployment of innovative wireless services ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011

29. Thank you!Dr. Arturas Medeisisam@sm-jazz.lt ITU: Committed to connecting the World ITU Regional Workshop, Amman, 5-7 Dec 2011