Editor's Foreword
By Adlane Fellah, CEO and Founder

The Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (FICORA) announced the radio spectrum auction for the 2500 - 2690 MHz band closed on Monday, November 23rd. The 2.6 GHz band has been the focus of much attention since it was identified as a future expansion band for mobile broadband services at the ITU World Radio Conference in 2000. The band is typically split into blocks of paired and unpaired spectrum, which are particularly suitable for UMTS/LTE and mobile WiMAX technologies respectively.

The auction process is a simultaneous multiple-round (SMR) auction. All 15 frequency blocks were auctioned at the same time, but only 4 winners were declared.

The auction lasted five days and included 27 rounds. The final sum amounted to EUR 3,797,800, a relatively low sum compared to what neighboring Sweden and Norway collected. Spectrum auction winners were operators DNA, TeliaSonera and Elisa. A new network operator in mobile communications markets is Pirkanmaan Verkko Oy that submitted the winning bid for TDD spectrum.

The winning bids for FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) spectrum were submitted by the following operators:

• Elisa, who bid EUR 834,700 for 50 MHz
• TeliaSonera Finland, who bid EUR 810,200 for 50 MHz
• DNA, who bid EUR 675,700 for 40 MHz

In TDD (Time Division Duplex) spectrum the highest bid was made by Pirkanmaan Verkko for 1.47 million for 50 MHz, in which it will most likely deploy a WiMAX network.

The spectrum blocks to be auctioned are divided into blocks according to section 3 of the Auction Act. The paired spectrum blocks of 2500-2570 MHz and 2620-2690 MHz are called blocks FDD1 to FDD14. Spectrum block 2570-2620 MHz is called TDD-block.
Ms. Suvi Lindén, Finland's Minister of Communications, said “now we will assess the results of the trial auction and the impact it will have in future.” According to Minister Lindén a report on the impacts of the auction will be submitted to Parliament in autumn 2010. By then there will be information available as to how the winners use the spectrum. The Government will later grant operating licenses on the basis of the auction.

Noteworthy Regulations 

1. The assigned blocks shall be in multiples of 5,0 MHz.

2. Within the 2500–2690 MHz band, the duplex spacing for FDD operation shall be 120 MHz with terminal station transmission (uplink) located in the lower part of the band starting at 2500 MHz (extending to a maximum limit of 2570 MHz) and base station transmission (downlink) located in the upper part of the band starting at 2620 MHz.

3. The sub-band 2570–2620 MHz can be used by TDD or other usage modes complying with the BEMs in this Annex. Outside of the sub-band 2570–2620 MHz such usage can be decided at national level and shall be in equal parts in both the upper part of the band starting at 2690 MHz (extending downwards) and the lower part of the band starting at 2570 MHz (extending downwards).

Whenever a radio system using unrestricted TDD and a radio system using FDD in the uplink spectrum band, or two systems using unsynchronized TDD operate in adjacent frequency bands, a 5 MHz block for restricted use is needed to avoid harmful interference. Specific conditions for networks using FDD: the uplink band (25XX-25YY MHz) is to be used for terminal station transmission and the downlink band (26XX-26YY) for base station transmission.

As shown in the table below, most countries will auction the 2.6 Ghz band some time in 2010. The UK made news as it has repeatedly delayed the auction of 2.6 Ghz, which is causing headaches to advocates of disrupting technologies such as WIMAX. So far only Scandinavian countries have taken the step to auction the 3.6 Ghz, while the rest of Europe will follow suit in 2010.

(Data as of April 2009)

In defining spectrum management policies, many European national authorities are nowadays guided by two goals in particular: reduction of the digital divide and increasing completion. In principle, the digital dividend and refarmed 900 MHz spectrum would be better suited for reaching these goals. The 2.6 GHz band is, however, very suitable for new Greenfield operators seeking to disrupt the status quo especially on the mobile side. Policy goals contrasting with spectrum characteristics and incumbents’ interests, and the interdependence of current and future licensing policies, leads to iterative policymaking by regulators and triggers legal challenges by incumbents. This in turn makes the 2.6 GHz licensing process prone to delays. It would not be surprising if several of the planned 2.6 GHz spectrum auctions are likely to suffer (further) delays.

Enjoy!

Adlane Fellah
Maravedis CEO & Founder

For more information, contact the author at afellah@maravedis-bwa.com

Copyright © 2009 by Maravedis Inc. All Rights Reserved.
No reproduction without consent.



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