On November 9, 2009, was held the
Seminar on Spectrum Requirements for Broadband
Deployment in Washington, DC, United States. At this
Seminar, the following topics were discussed:
• Status of mobile broadband
deployments: A current market update will be
provided on North, Central and South America
networks as well as a worldwide snapshot.
• Mobile broadband spectrum
requirements: The seminar presenters will discuss
how the increasing demand for mobile broadband
applications and the great variety of powerful
mobile devices require a quick response from the
wireless operators that will need to maximize the
spectrum available. Seminar presenters will also
discuss the spectrum requirements and
recommendations for the near future found in ITU-R
Report M.2078, “Estimated spectrum bandwidth
requirements for the future development of IMT-2000
and IMT-Advanced”.
• Market Analysis: We will study
the effects of spectrum policy and regulations
including spectrum licensing, the spectrum caps
impact, the effects of regulations on innovation and
technical efficiency of networks and some spectrum
practices outside the Americas.
The conclusions of the Seminar
were:
1. We are about the enter the
decade of 2010 with a new mobile reality; mobile
voice networks in 2G have evolved toward voice +
data networks in 3G; the number of users is now a
factor that is less decisive for spectrum
requirements than the number of added-value and
broadband services required by each one of them.
2. It is important to draw up a
master plan of frequencies on the basis of a
detailed spectrum inventory of mobile bands
recommended by ITU and CITEL to find, to the extent
possible, contiguous spectrum and avoid assigning
fragmented spectrum. On the basis of this master
plan, the regulatory agencies should publish a
future spectrum assignment plan in various phases:
a. Short term: Award for years
2010-2011
b. Medium term: Award for years
2012-2013
c. Long term: Award for years
2014-2015
3. Need to harmonize the spectrum
for mobile services in the Americas to facilitate
roaming of services and take advantage of economies
of scale that shall exert an impact on the operating
costs of services providers and the end user.
4. Revision of policies to
increase the amount of spectrum operators may hold
may be necessary to ensure sufficient spectrum to
deploy broadband services; greater flexibility in
this aspect is required to adapt to the new mobile
reality of voice and data networks.
5. In the working groups of
PCC.II in CITEL, continue and further promote the
dialogue started in this seminar with the
participation of the players of the mobile industry:
regulatory agency, operator, technology provider,
and industry associations.
Erasmo Rojas
Coordinator of the Seminar
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