| DSA Newsletter | Q1 2016 | www.dynamicspectrumalliance.org | events, future plans, news and more |
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| 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. | ||
 It was a very busy start to the year with our biggest Global Summit yet taking place in Latin America for the first time, in Bogota, Colombia. Representatives from 160 organisations, spanning 35 countries over five continents, and 15 regulatory bodies came together in the Americas to learn and exchange knowledge about best spectrum sharing policies and practices. This was the first time many international regulators including, the Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações (ANATEL), Brazil; Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones (IFT), Mexico; Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (SUTEL), Costa Rica; Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA), Botswana; National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM), Sierra Leone; Agencia Nacional del Espectro (ANE), Colombia; Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones de Chile (SUBTEL), Chile; and the Instituto Dominicano de las Telecomunicaciones (INDOTEL), Dominican Republic attended the DSA Global Summit, so I would like to send a special thanks to all for their involvement. |
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| The Global Summit has created an enormous impact on spectrum regulatory thinking in the Americas and around the world. During the Summit and subsequently since, many regulators have asked the Alliance for further assistance on how they can implement the spectrum sharing best practices discussed during the Global Summit in their respective countries. | ||
| I would like to personally thank Dr. Martha Suarez, Director General, and the Agencia Nacional del Espectro (ANE) for being such a wonderful co-host and also extend this to all who attended, supported, partnered, or spoke at the Global Summit. The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance will build on the great momentum created by the 2016 Global Summit in the Americas as it looks to host the 2017 Global Summit in Cape Town, South Africa and partner with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). I have just recently concluded a 3-day trip to Johannesburg to kick off the DSA Global Summit 2017 with the ICASA CEO, COO and acting Chairperson. They are all truly excited, and will be fully engaged with the planning of the Summit, which will most likely take place during the second week of May 2017. I also took the opportunity to advocate for the opportunities and risks of LTE-U/LAA (co-existence issues with Wi-Fi which are still not fully understood), to advocate for speedy TVWS regulations in South Africa to be in place before the Summit in Cape Town, and to address several spectrum-related queries. I also met up with several new potential members of DSA - particularly notable Wi-Fi players in South Africa who are likely to join the DSA in short order, as well as CSIR/Meraka Institute - the premier technology research institute in South Africa who led TVWS trials in Cape Town several years ago. With them, we are also planning a pre-summit meeting in September 2016 so that all the key stakeholders on spectrum sharing in South Africa and the SADC region can be fully coordinated before the 2017 Summit. I genuinely hope you are as excited as I am and, therefore, I hope to see all of you in the beautiful city of Cape Town for the DSA Global Summit 2017. | ||
| Moving on from the Global Summit, I am delighted to welcome four new members to the Alliance; Nominet, Marvell Semiconductors Inc., M-KOPA and IEEE. The expansion of the Alliance membership is proof that the work conducted by the DSA and its members is viewed as highly valuable for those driven and passionate about connecting the next four billion un-or-under connected. | ||
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With our continued passion for advocating for dynamic spectrum access and spectrum sharing around the globe, the remainder of 2016 and 2017 is set to be an even more incredible time for the DSA – that is until next year's Global Summit in Cape Town. Prof. H Nwana, Executive Director |
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DSA Activities |
| DSA Global Summit 2016 | |
| The DSA’s fourth Global Summit was held in Bogota, Colombia and was co-hosted by Agencia Nacional del Espectro (ANE), the Colombian spectrum regulatory body. The Summit has taken place in Africa, Asia and now Latin America. The 2016 Summit has been a true success for promoting the DSA vision across the Americas and around the world and all of the regulators, government officials, academics, spectrum policy makers and organizations in attendance agreed to take away the following key messages of the DSA; to work with regulators and key stakeholders from around the world to balance exclusive utilization of spectrum with more sharing where needed; to balance more licensed regulation with unlicensed regulation; and to balance more static spectrum allocation with dynamic allocation. | |
| This year the Global Summit included a half-day workshop for regulators. Regulators from 15 countries within the Latin American region and around the world participated in the half-day workshop, discussing spectrum sharing best practices and regulations. We have seen regulator participation continue to increase year after year which has led to greater success in positive engagements post-Summit. | |
| Attendance numbers continue to grow year on year with nearly 300 registered attendees for this years’ Summit. Attendees of the event expressed their appreciation for the deep discussions generated from the high quality of presentations throughout the conference; in particular, those sessions that focused on Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), TV White Space (TVWS) technology advances, real use-case studies using shared spectrum from Botswana to Mexico, and the need for increased spectrum sharing in the 5GHz bands to accommodate new technologies like 802.11ac. | |
| Feedback from Regulators | |
| Glen Fallas, General Director, Quality of Service and Spectrum Department, Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (SUTEL), Costa Rica commented, “The Global Summit has presented a lot of opportunities for the regulators. We would like to thank DSA for holding the Summit in the Americas. We have had the chance to dig further into the issues around spectrum management and have gained a deeper understanding of spectrum standards and how to implement these in our country. This has been the best two days of information sharing about dynamic spectrum access issues.” | |
| Carlos Cepeda, Gestión del Espectro Radioeléctrico, Instituto Dominicano de las Telecomunicaciones (INDOTEL), Dominican Republic commented, “In our opinion the best part of the DSA Global Summit was the afternoon session of the Regulator Workshop, held on Tuesday. There we had the chance to hear from the leaders of each organization member of the Alliance, their point of view regarding spectrum sharing and we had a very productive discussion. For Indotel, attending next year’s summit would be a great opportunity to keep up to date on the developments of the dynamic spectrum access technology and its application.” | |
| Dr. Agostinho Linhares, Manager, Spectrum, Orbit and Broadcasting Division, Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações (ANATEL), Brazil commented, “The first day meetings were the best part. The main discussions of the Summit were treated with more time, more deeply and there was more room for discussions. In the DSA Summit I was able to receive information from other parts of the industry that showed their views, which are different from previous information; my view regarding LTE-U and LAA changed after the Summit.” | |
| Mr. Daniel Argandoña, Coordinador de Investigaciones Tecnológicas, Gerencia de Políticas Regulatorias y Competencia, OSIPTEL, Peru commented, “There were many important and valuable parts. I would say one of the best part was Colombian MINTIC Minister Presentation. Also, the last expert panel of Wednesday’s afternoon was a really good one, with lots of information, data and resources. I would definitely like to attend next year’s DSA summit. But It all depends on OSIPTEL’s upper managers travel policies and priorities. In any case, I recommended that OSIPTEL should attend next year’s summit since It would greatly help us to know the “state of the art” in spectrum last trends.” | |
| This year we also had on-site PR support from Proactive PR who created and distributed a press release each day of the Summit in English, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese. The press releases can be found on the DSA news page. A press conference was also coordinated with several of the local Colombian newspapers. |  |
| For a summary of the Global Summit or to download any of the presentations please visit the DSA Global Summit page. | |
| New Members |
| Membership recruitment is important to the DSA. Members are encouraged to promote membership in the DSA to associates they feel would benefit from the work of the DSA. If you have contacts with any company you feel should in the DSA, please feel free to send their information to admin@dynamicspectrumalliance.org. |
 Marvell Semiconductors Inc. - Marvell is a global leader in providing complete silicon solutions and Kinoma® software enabling the “Smart Life and Smart Lifestyle.” From storage to cloud infrastructure, Internet of Things (IoT), Wireless and Multimedia, Marvell’s diverse product portfolio aligns complete platform designs with industry-leading performance, security, reliability and efficiency. At the core of the world’s most powerful consumer, network and enterprise systems, Marvell empowers partners and their customers to always stand at the forefront of innovation, performance and mass appeal. By providing people around the world with mobility and ease of access to services adding value to their social, personal and work lives, Marvell is committed to enhancing the human experience. |
 Nominet- Nominet is an international, internet company with a team of 150 people based in Oxford and London. It is a public benefit company with 2,800 members. Since 1996, Nominet has managed and run domain names that end in .UK and is now one of the world’s largest country code registries. With the proceeds of their successful registry business, Nominet set up and supports the Nominet Trust, an independent charitable foundation focused on increasing access, safety and education on internet issues. |
| Through this webinar, the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance and ANE explained the potential of dynamic spectrum sharing, and argued for the backing of spectrum regulatory bodies. This would enable the creation of new opportunities for broadband internet connection in rural and low density areas to improve aspects like education, healthcare, commerce and the delivery of government services. Moreover, thoughts about the role of regulators in promoting the enabling of IoT, and all the complementary solutions that the use of dynamic spectrum access technologies and solutions could bring to the society, were presented. Webinar attendees were encouraged to attend the DSA Global Summit in Colombia. |
 M-KOPA: M-KOPA Solar, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, is the global leader of "pay-as-you-go" energy for off-grid customers. Since its commercial launch in October 2012, M-KOPA has connected more than 330,000 homes in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to solar power, and is now adding over 500 new homes each day. The success of M-KOPA (M= mobile, KOPA= to borrow) stems from making solar products affordable to low-income households on a pay-per-use installment plan. Customers acquire solar systems for a small deposit and then purchase daily usage "credits" for USD 50 cents, or less than the price of traditional kerosene lighting. After one year of payments customers own their solar systems outright and can upgrade to more power. Each battery powered 8W system comes with two lights, a torch, mobile phone charger, solar powered radio and now a solar powered digital TV. All revenues are collected in real-time via mobile money systems (such as M-PESA in Kenya) and embedded GSM sensors in each solar system allow M-KOPA to monitor real time performance and regulate usage based upon payments. This connected design means that M-KOPA is processing vast amounts of data (i.e. over 10,000 mobile payments per day) via the company's proprietary cloud platform, M-KOPAnet. As of January 2016 M-KOPA employs over 700 full time staff across East Africa and sells through a network of 1,000 direct sales agents. It has also commenced licensing its technology to partners in other markets. |
 IEEE: IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. IEEE and its members inspire a global community to innovate for a better tomorrow through its highly-cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities. IEEE is the trusted “voice” for engineering, computing and technology information around the globe. There are more than 420,000 IEEE members in more than 160 countries. IEEE publishes a third of the world’s technical literature in electrical engineering, computer science and electronics and is a leading developer of international standards that underpin many of today's telecommunications, information technology and power generation products and services. |
Policy/Regulation Update |
| The Colombian Government's grant of permits processes for use of spectrum nationwide in the SHF band |
| “New technology will improve Internet connectivity in rural areas. National Government and Microsoft launched this Tuesday the technology TV White Space, which works on the TV spectrum available and takes advantage of the optical fiber service installed by the government in all the municipalities in order to improve the connectivity conditions in remote areas of Colombia,” commented the Ministry of ICT, Colombia. |
| The DSA welcomes the Colombian ICT Ministry’s two resolutions to open the process for granting permits for the use of radio spectrum nationwide. Resolution 00881 will open the process for granting permits for the use of radio spectrum nationwide in the SHF band in the segments attributed to the fixed radio service, for operation through point to point communication links in the range of 3.7 GHz to 27.5 GHz. Resolution 00885 will open the process for granting permits at municipal, departmental and national level in the HF bands in the range of 3-30 MHz, VHF in the range of 30 to 300 MHz and UHF in the range of 300 to 462.5 MHz, except the range 452.5 to 459.4MHz to fixed and mobile terrestrial radio services. Both processes were initiated in accordance with the Frequency Bands National Allocation Schedule. Applications, in both cases, will be received until May 31. |
| India's Government issuing eight licenses in the 470-585MHz band |
| The Indian Government moves to issue eight new licenses in the 470-582 MHz band. |
| The purpose of these is to carry out experiments at several locations using TV whitespace-like-rules and regulations adopted diversely elsewhere in other countries such as Malawi, Ghana, Singapore, the Philippines, UK, USA and Canada. This decision opens up vast opportunities for the use of unlicensed spectrum in India without the need for spectrum auctions. |
| Ofcom propose opening the 5 GHz frequency range for Wi-Fi |
| The DSA applauds Ofcom’s proposal to open up an additional ‘sub-band’ within the 5 GHz frequency range for Wi-Fi. |
| The extra sub-band would increase the number of 80 MHz channels available for Wi-Fi from four to six, to accommodate data-hungry applications. These extra channels - which are already being used in the US - could be opened up in a few years. |
| Regulatory Affairs Work Group update | |
| The Regulatory Affairs Work Group continues to develop policy positions for ratification by the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance. In particular, the group crafts high-level positions on critical issues related to dynamic spectrum sharing, and drafts public documents for submission to regulatory agencies and develops. | |
| Recent Updates Include: | |
| On April 26th the Alliance held a “deep dive” policy session with regulators from around the world as part of the annual Global Summit. Alliance member company representatives met with regulators from 15 countries and briefed them on important topics such as the concept of dynamic access, sharing in the 5 GHz bands, and the proposed LTE-LAA standards for the WiFi bands. | |
| As a follow-up to the deep dive sessions, the Working Group sponsored two “call to action” webinars on June 15th to give regulators a closer look at the LTE-LAA controversy. | |
| In May, the Working Group drafted, and sent to the Board for its approval, a statement outlining the DSA’s position on LTE-LAA. That statement will be used in future regulatory proceedings and other external-facing fora. | |
| The Working Group is also working on proposed filings to submit to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding DSRC in the 5.9 GHz bands. | |
| In mid-June, H Nwana travelled to South Africa to accomplish a number of things, including matters of interest to the Working Group. In particular H discussed with regulator ICASA issues including LTE-U risks, the need for more unlicensed spectrum, and the TVWS consultation. He also spoke with representatives from USASA, the telco universal service fund. | |
| 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. | |
| Recent submissions |
| As a cross-industry organization, the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance works to engage with regulators and government officials to promote the adoption of legal and regulatory frameworks that facilitate dynamic access to radio spectrum. Since the last newsletter, the Alliance has filed the following submissions: |
| February 2016: DSA Comments to GN Docket No. 14-177: Use of Spectrum Bands above 24 GHz For Mobile Radio Services |
PR/Media Update |
| Recent Articles | |
| Bloomberg BNA | Spectrum Auctions: Broadcast, Wireless Industries Eye 2016 Spectrum Auction |
| Mobile Europe | "Polite" dynamic spectrum access could lead to innovation spurt |
| PTC'16 Executive Interview – Spectrum Futures | PTC’16 Executive Interview: Dynamic Spectrum Alliance’s H Sama Nwana |
| APB News (Page 8) | Spectrum use still important for broadcast services |
| ITU News Blog | Africa’s Telecoms Infrastructure: 2015 at a Glance |
| Mobile World Live | India’s whitespace allocation opens up possibilities |
| Microsoft News Centre Latin America | Acceso universal a la banda ancha, tema esencial en la Cumbre Global Anual de Spectrum Alliance |
| El Espectador | Sacándole jugo al espectro radioeléctrico |
| TeleSemana.com | DSA: El esquema actual de asignación de espectro es inaceptable |
| Developing Telecoms | Interview: H Nwana of the DSA on more efficient spectrum policy in emerging markets |
| TeleSemana Mobile World Congress 2016 Video | |
| H Nwana was interviewed by TeleSemana, the leading telecommunications and technology publication in the Latin America region, during Mobile World Congress in February 2016 to discuss spectrum issues in Latin America and around the world ahead of the 2016 Global Summit. | |
| To watch the full video interview please follow this link: http://www.telesemana.com/bcn2016/oradores/h-sama-nwana/ | |
| Marketing Media Partnerships | |
| For the first time as part of the PR strategy for the Global Summit, Proactive PR negotiated and secured free of charge marketing contra agreements with Convergencialatina, an independent publication formed of a team of analysts and specialist telecommunication journalists from Latin America and the Caribbean and Policy Tracker, the only magazine exclusively focused on spectrum management and policy. The media agreements were used to promote the Global Summit specifically in the Americas region and to those in the spectrum management sector in order to increase attendance at the event and to spread the goals of the DSA as wide as possible. | |
| As part of the media agreement Convergencialatina provided; | |
| Publication of DSA Global Summit event banner on the Convergencialatina website homepage | |
| Publication of DSA Global Summit event banner on the daily news service ‘A Diario Latino’ with a link to the DSA website | |
| DSA Global Summit listed on the event section calendar with a link to the DSA website and a description of the Global Summit | |
| Publication of the DSA logo on the Events Highlights section of the Convergencialatina website homepage | |
| As part of the media agreement with Policy Tracker, the DSA secured a dedicated blog on the Policy Tracker website for members to publish leading insights into current industry news. Paul Garnett, Director, Affordable Access Initiatives, Microsoft Corporation and Chairman of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance Board contributed the below article on the benefits of spectrum sharing; Bengalaru to Bogota: Regulators are Learning About the Socio-Economic Benefits of Spectrum Sharing |
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| Recent Industry Events |
| Mobile World Congress, 22-25 February, Barcelona, Spain Mobile World Congress includes a world-class conference featuring visionary keynotes and thought-provoking panel discussions; an exhibition with more than 2,000 companies displaying the cutting-edge products and technologies that define the future of mobile; the world’s best opportunity for mobile industry networking; and the annual Global Mobile Awards ceremony, which recognizes the most innovative mobile solutions and initiatives from around the world. H Nwana attended the event as a delegate. A4AI Nigeria Coalition, 22 March, Nigeria, Africa The A4AI-Nigeria Coalition meeting gave each of the three working groups the opportunity to explain the challenges to affordability they are addressing, progress to date, and expected outcomes in the near future. The meeting also provided an opportunity for all participants to discuss the work of each working group and their upcoming activities. UK Spectrum Policy: Allocation, Capacity and the Development of 5G, 14 April, London, UK Bringing together policymakers with key stakeholders across the telecoms and audio-visual media sectors, this timely seminar examined the development of UK spectrum policy. It took place as demand pressures continue to increase - as highlighted in Ofcom’s recently published Communications Market Report - and as future allocation is being discussed. Digital Regulation Forum, 20-21 April, London, UK The Digital Regulation Forum debated ongoing developments of the digital industry as well as the forthcoming review of the EU regulatory framework for electronic communications. It covered many areas of interest for policy makers, market players as well investors and regulators: the new regulatory regime for telecoms, the role of national regulators, the need for internet speed and quality beyond 2020, the role of on-line platforms, the issue of market consolidation, net neutrality and the launch of 5G. Dynamic Spectrum Alliance Global Summit 2016, 26-28 April, Bogota, Colombia The DSA annual Global Summit was co-hosted by Agencia Nacional del Espectro (ANE), the Colombian national spectrum regulator, in Bogota, Colombia on 26-28 April 2016. Following on from previous success in Asia (Manila, Philippines) and Africa (Accra, Ghana), the Summit headed to Latin America where regulators, industry representatives, and academics from around the world discussed how new dynamic spectrum sharing technologies and regulatory models are being used to increase digital inclusion and address the massive growth of wireless data. IET Annual Prestige Mobile Communications Lecture, 9 June, Reading, UK H Nwana presented the lecture, focusing on ‘DSA bridging the digital divide: 5G & IoT’. |
| Upcoming Industry Events |
| 11th Annual European Spectrum Management Conference, 22-23 June, Brussels Now in its 11th year, the European Spectrum Management Conference has established its importance as Europe's largest spectrum management conference and the leading sector event in the Brussels calendar. The 2016 edition will once again bring together over 250 high level speakers and delegates from the major stakeholders of the European and global spectrum communities for an interactive discussion on the key issues surrounding spectrum management policy in Europe. The DSA will attend this event and take part in the panel session "What future for whitespace?" Wi-Fi Global Congress 27 June – 30 June, Liverpool, UK WBA’s Wireless Global Congress is the world’s leading wireless event that attracts more than 700 attendees, and 60 high-level speakers and panelists aims to deliver insights from leading technology visionaries, deployment stories from leading operators and global market updates from leading narratives. H Nwana will present a keynote address on ‘Driving Wireless Innovation’. 21st Annual Spectrum Summit (in association with Policy Tracker), 13 July, Germany This event will focus on “spectrum on the move” and will include sessions on; the future of the UHF band: including 700 MHz re-farming, SDL and PPDR; the route to WRC-19: the impacts of WRC-15 and priorities for WRC-19; 5G and nanoWaves: spectrum requirements for 5G and; transport and telematics: spectrum‘s role in improving transportation. The DSA will attend this event and will present on the 5G and nanoWaves panel. |
Get in touch |
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| If you would like more information, or if your company or organization is interested in joining the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance, then please email | |
| admin@dynamicspectrumalliance.org | |
| Alternatively, visit our membership page, which provides a membership level breakdown. | |
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