| Keeping you updated about our activities! Here we highlight our latest work and focus on areas where we are empowering the next wave of spectrum access. |
| 2014 was a major turning point as dynamic spectrum policy thinking continued to move up the agenda for regulators and policy makers, across the world, especially as new areas like Internet of Things emerge. Dynamic spectrum access is firmly coming of age as the global dynamic spectrum access movement grows. Not only has our membership increased, but more and more countries are looking to implement dynamic spectrum access regulations in 2015 and add to the United States, Singapore and Finland. This includes the UK, South Africa and Malawi, as well as a growing number of geographical database-based TV White Space pilots already underway in North America, Europe, South Africa, Africa, Asia, Jamaica and even Latin America (the first being in Uruguay). |
 Asia is picking up momentum as is Africa which has witnessed its first commercial service network utilising TV White Spaces in Ghana, allowing University students to buy affordable, high speed internet bundles and devices. I applaud the Ghanaian regulator, NCA, in granting a commercial license, which allows use of TV frequencies on a secondary basis as long as TV is not interfered with. This would drive up spectrum efficiency of TV bands in Ghana, and I hope other countries learn from NCA’s decision. |
| In the past 12 months we’ve worked rapidly to address the looming spectrum crunch and pave the way for innovative new wireless technologies. Working to engage with regulators and government officials to promote the adoption of legal and regulatory frameworks that facilitate dynamic access to radio spectrum, we’ve made great progress in the development of our model rules and regulations to kick start regulations and policy making with regulators worldwide. |
| Just this month, we welcomed Ofcom’s decision to implement TV white space regulations, enabling access to the unused parts of radio spectrum in the 470 to 790 MHz frequency band. This is a major milestone to be celebrated - The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance believes spectrum sharing via dynamic spectrum access must truly start being the norm rather than the exception, and Ofcom’s move will help advance this view. This should also signal to and spur other regulators to move faster on dynamic spectrum access regulations. We hope Ofcom will move to finalise the regulation and the associated database contracts as soon as possible in order to enable UK citizens to start enjoying the benefits of the diverse applications that dynamic spectrum access can enable. This follows Industry Canada’s recent release of its TV white space regulations for rural and near-urban internet access and signifies a real milestone for dynamic spectrum access across the world, highlighting its growing momentum. |
 I’d also like this opportunity to announce this year’s Dynamic Spectrum Alliance Global Summit which will be held in Manila, Philippines on May 6-8, 2015 and will be will be co-hosted by the Philippines’ Department of Science and Technology ICT Office and the country’s Communication Regulator, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). Deployment of dynamic spectrum access technologies is already underway through trials, pilots, and commercial deployments in the ASEAN region, as well as globally, however in the Philippines, cutting edge dynamic space access technologies are already being used to improve broadband connectivity and facilitate mobile fisher folk registration in remote areas in the municipalities of Talibon, Trinidad, Bien Unido, Ubay, and Carlos P Garcia. These technologies have also been used to deploy wireless broadband networks in relief of natural disasters. By supporting the 2015 DSA Global Summit, the Philippine government is recognising the need to innovatively increase spectrum supply and availability throughout the region, with the aim of supporting the local economy and creating new opportunities in education, e-health, and e-government services. |
| I am excited to build on last year’s success, particularly as we add new features to the agenda, such as a TV White Space Introduction & Model Regulations Seminar and a Project Financing Seminar. We already have major sponsors on board, including Microsoft, MediaTek and Google, however if you’re interested in sponsoring, or would like to find out more about the Summit, please email admin@dynamicspectrumalliance.org. I also urge anyone who would like be involved in the agenda to get in touch. |
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We have enjoyed great success in 2014 in supporting, advocating and promoting dynamic spectrum access across the world and looking ahead, we’ll continue to work with global regulators as we make dynamic spectrum access real in 2015!
Prof. H Nwana, Executive Director |
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| Dynamic Spectrum Alliance Website Portal |
| In an effort to foster dialog and engagement among international scholars, researchers, and other members the TVWS and dynamic spectrum communities, the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance is working to establish an online community web portal. The site will enable collaboration and serve as a centralized, open access resource to learn about the variety of spectrum-related research projects underway. Features of the site include the ability for participants to upload and view research findings, latest news and activities of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance, a calendar of events, updates on regulations around the world, surveys to collect feedback, private and public email reflectors and more. |
| The site will initially be launched to members of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance with a planned rollout to the broader public in the coming months. Stay tuned for updates coming soon! |
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| Regulatory Affairs Work Group demonstrates the social and economic benefits of spectrum sharing |
| The Regulatory Affairs Work Group, which was formed in November 2013, continues to develop policy positions for ratification by the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance. The Group draft documents for submission to regulatory agencies while developing higher-level positions on critical issues related to dynamic spectrum sharing. |
| Since its formation, the Work Group, which is co-chaired by Aparna Sridhar and Edward Ehrlich, has submitted responses to numerous consultations in a variety of jurisdictions. The goal of these submissions has been to advance policies that enable dynamic spectrum sharing and additional access to spectrum for license-exempt use. These include two recent submissions to the European Radio Spectrum Policy Group encouraging additional license-exempt use in the television and 5 GHz bands and a submission to the United States Federal Communication Commission urging the Commission to adopt technical rules that foster meaningful unlicensed use in the 600 MHz band. A full list of the submissions is available here. |
| The Work Group supports sharing both among Governmental and non-Governmental users and among different types of commercial users. Another overlapping area of focus is increasing access to spectrum for license-exempt use. There are very few barriers to entry for innovators and entrepreneurs who want to make use of license-exempt frequencies; as a result, these frequency bands tend to be a hot-bed of innovation and experimentation. As such, enabling unlicensed use in high, medium, and low bands is likely to foster new technical developments in wireless technologies and corresponding economic growth. |
| Looking to the next quarter, the Work Group will continue to advance these priorities by focusing on demonstrating the social and economic benefits that spectrum sharing and unlicensed access can provide, across a variety of sectors. |
| Any Dynamic Spectrum Alliance member can participate in the Regulatory Affairs Work Group, so if you are interested in this area, then please contact admin@dynamicspectrumalliance.org. |
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| A Quantitative Assessment of TV White Space in India |
| A comprehensive quantitative assessment and estimates for the TV White Space in the 470- 590MHz band for four zones of India (all except north) are presented in this paper from Gaurang Naik, Sudesh Singhal, Animesh Kumar, and Abhay Karandikar, and the Department of Electrical Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. This is the first effort in India to estimate TV White Spaces in a comprehensive manner. The average available TV White Space per unit area in these four zones is calculated using two methods: (i) the primary (licensed) user and secondary (unlicensed) user point of view; and, (ii) the regulations of Federal Communications Commission in the United States. By both methods, the average available TV White Space in the UHF TV band is shown to be more than 100MHz! A TV transmitter frequency-reassignment algorithm is also described. Based on spatial-reuse ideas, a TV channel allocation scheme is presented which results in insignicant interference to the TV receivers while using the least number of TV channels for transmission across the four zones. Based on this reassignment, it is found that four TV band channels (or 32MHz) are sufficient to provide the existing UHF TV band coverage in India. To read the full assessment, click here. |
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| Board of Directors Election Results |
In November, the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance held annual elections for its Board of Directors which is now comprised of the below companies and Directors. These members provide integral leadership and direction to drive the efforts of the Alliance. Companies interested in joining the ranks of the Board or at another membership level should visit our website for instructions on how to join.
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| Board Member Company |
Director |
| CHARTER LEVEL MEMBERS |
| Adaptrum, Inc. |
Haiyun Tang |
| Aviacomm, Inc. |
Shih Mo |
| British Sky Broadcasting Limited |
Nick Gregory |
| Google Inc. |
Aparna Sridhar |
| InterDigital Communications, Inc. |
Edward Ehrlich |
| Mediatek Inc. |
EJ Chiang |
| Microsoft Corporation |
Paul Garnett |
| National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) |
Hiroshi Harada |
| SpectraLink Wireless, Ltd. |
Sean Sealey |
| PROMOTER LEVEL MEMBERS |
| Aruba Networks |
Dorothy Stanley |
| Broadcom Corporation |
Vijay Nagarajan |
| Facebook |
Chris Weasler |
| ADVISOR LEVEL MEMBER (non-voting) |
| Carlson Wireless |
Jim Carlson |
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| TVWS Commercial Deployments, Pilots, and Trials Go Global |
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| Over the past several weeks, we have added new TVWS Commercial Deployments, Pilots, and Trials from around the world to the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance website. Included below are recently added projects and here is an article on Africa’s first commercial deployment of TVWS technology in Ghana. |
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Tang Valley, Bumthang, Bhutan |
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Tono City, Iwate Prefecture, Japan |
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Oshana, Ohangwena, and Omusati, Namibia |
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Koforidua, Ghana |
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London, United Kingdom |
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Isle of Bute, Scotland, United Kingdom |
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Washington County, Maine, USA |
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Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina, USA |
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La Pointe à David, Gatineau Valley, Quebec, Canada |
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Montevideo, Uruguay |
| A printable copy of the entire list of Commercial Deployments, Pilots, and Trials is available on our website here. Please feel free to share this information with your fellow contacts, associates, and business partners. We will continue to update this list with new locations, and ask our members to submit any new projects to admin@dynamicspectrumalliance.com. |
| Highlighted trials: |
Jamaica gets a boost
The Government of Jamaica is receiving support from the United States to increase access to the Internet in rural parishes and implement sustainable energy initiatives in the country. The support comes through two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs): the first MoU seeks to make use of unused TV White Spaces to improve the information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and the second MOU outlines a programme of technical collaboration on the implementation of clean energy activities in the island. The six-month pilot project will be used to accommodate Internet bandwidth connectivity and adoption among stakeholders, connecting up to 36 schools, , libraries, police stations, and other government offices to the Internet using TV White Space technology |
| This project, which is in the Americas but outside of the United States of America, is being primarily funded by the USAID and the Jamaican universal service fund, meaning two governments have a stake in the outcome of the effort. It’s expected that the project will go live in the second quarter of this year. |
India’s Department of Telecom looks to move spectrum forward
Earlier this month, it was announced that India’s Department of Telecom has in principle agreed to a proposal to tap unused spectrum in terrestrial TV frequency bands for offering broadband services. Currently, Saankhya Labs and Microsoft are working to address this as the country considers its implementation plans for moving forward and freeing up spectrum. |
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| Recent Industry Events |
CTO’s Commonwealth Broadband Africa Forum, November 18-20, Nairobi, Kenya
The theme for this event was broadband for accelerated growth, examining aspects of broadband, not only developing national broadband strategies but with an overview of the Commonwealth Broadband strategy and the role of Universal Access Funds. Frank McCosker (Microsoft) joined the agenda to discuss financing broadband in Africa an providing affordable internet for all.
ANE Annual Spectrum Conference, November 25-26, Bogota, Colombia
H Nwana joined a panel at this regional event, which focussed on the IoT and Smart Cities, to discuss licensing models and regulatory update challenges.
Digital Migration and Spectrum Management – Africa 2014, November 25-27, Johannesburg, South Africa
Key themes of this event focussed on TVWS, wireless broadband, using regulation, next generation convergent services. Arno Hart (TENET) attended the conference and delivered a presentation on understanding TV White Space and the digital migration process.
ITU Telecom World 2014, December 7-11, Doha, UAE
ITU Telecom World 2014 is a unique opportunity to confront the new realities of the industry and explore how future scenarios could impact our businesses and lives. This is a key event for the Alliance so H Nwana joined the agenda to deliver a presentation about dynamic spectrum access and its challenges and opportunities.
PTC 2015, January 18-21, Honolulu, Hawaii
PTC's annual conference is the Asia-Pacific's premier telecommunications event. Now in its 37th year, the annual conference is a strategic springboard for the global telecommunications industry. To coincide with this event, the Alliance issued a release called out for dynamic spectrum access to alleviate spectrum challenge. Read the full story here.
3rd African Group Preparatory Meeting for World Radiocommunications Conference-2015 (WRC-15), January 26-30, Nigeria, Africa
Arno Hart (TENET) attended this meeting in preparation for World Radiocommunications Conference-2015, primarily to help motivate a recommendation to the ATU (African Telecommunications Union) to conduct a study of dynamic spectrum access. Arno reported key outcomes including the fact that the ATU voted to study the use of dynamic spectrum sharing. The study to be completed by December 2015 will develop an ATU report on how to introduce dynamic spectrum sharing measures such as Television White Spaces in Africa in the VHF (54-216 MHz) and UHF (470-694 MHz) bands. The study will provide a definition and overview of dynamic spectrum & TVWS, discuss the application of TVWS, ensure the protection of incumbent services as well as adjacent users, identify approaches for database development and management as well as spectrum sensing in the TV bands, provide case studies, and detail regulatory approaches and example rules. There will be a 4th preparatory meeting in July, possibly in Nairobi.
Spectrum2025, 5 February, Washington DC
This inaugural event explored new technologies in dynamic access, new thinking related to spectrum licensing, and new investment frameworks and new policies to support innovation and investment in the connected society.
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| Upcoming Industry Events |
2015 Sub-Sahara Spectrum Management Conference, February 18-19, Johannesburg, South Africa
A4AI-Nigeria Coalition meeting, February 23-27, Abuja, Nigeria
Mobile World Congress, March 2-5, Barcelona, Spain
Dynamic Spectrum Alliance Global Summit, May 6-8, Manila, Philippines |
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