Friday May 21, 2010
By B.K. SIDHU
bksidhu@thestar.com.my
MCMC draws up spectrum plan
PETALING JAYA: The telecom's industry regulator has come up with a draft spectrum plan in which it proposes to re-farm several blocks of frequency including those in the 850 Mhz, 900 Mhz and 2.5 Ghz bands.
Those in the know say that the 900 Mhz and 2.5 Ghz spectra may be allocated for 4G services sometime next year. But it is not clear what the plan is for the 850 Mhz.
“The 900 Mhz band can be used for wider reach while the 2.5 Ghz is good for capacity since demand for broadband services is growing in the country,'' said a source.
Mobility, fast speed and bigger bandwidth services is pushing greater usage of spectrum. Convergence of telecoms, broadcasting and information technology has also made managing radio frequency spectrum much more complex.
Spectrum is also a scarce resource, so having a plan for future spectrum allocation and assignment is necessary to make it easier for service providers to know what spectrum is available for their own planning.
Re-farming is a way to free up spectrum of an age-old technology that is not used or a frequency that may not have been fully developed and re-assign it where demand is huge.
This is also the first time the regulator, Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Commission (MCMC), has come up with such a comprehensive spectrum plan. It has posted the draft on its website for public feedback.
Some industry players contacted said it was a good move but they needed more time to read the entire document, which is 280 pages, to comment on it.
For now some players have more spectrum than others. There are other players that want more spectrum but have not got it while some other newer players have not been able to get spectrum. The spectrum plan hopes to address all that and potentially open up new avenues for others to come in.
DiGi.Com Bhd chairman Sigve Brekke said the company was hoping to get more spectra and was still in talks with the regulator on it.
“From a fairness point, have a regulated industry where all players have equal frequency allotted on equal frequency bands so that there is a level playing field,'' he said.
In the draft document, MCMC said that “due to greater demand for broadband services, several spectrum bands had been identified to be re-farmed in the near future. It cited the 450-470 Mhz, 790-960 Mhz, 1,710-1,885 Mhz and 2,500-2,690 Mhz frequency bands as potential candidates for re-farming.''
Refarming also does not mean that the regulator will forcibly take back spectrum allocated to players especially those it wants to refarm. All spectrum awards have a tenure period. Since the regulator may be awarding several 4G spectra and is likely to use the 2.5G spectrum, it will look into the tenures of these spectra before allocating it accordingly, said a source.
The draft plan also identifies the need to review blocks allocated for fixed and backhaul, short-range devices, radio frequency identification systems, and private/public mobile radio or walkie-talkie.
Other industries such as defence, the police force, fire brigade, ambulance and maritime enforcement agency also use spectrum for radio communications.
Broadcasting is an area extensively covered in the draft as the shift from analogue to digital terrestrial TV will take place in 2015. The new digital broadcasting technologies not only allow for more efficient use of radio spectrum and support users' demands for mobility but are also changing traditional methods of watching TV.
This process will require more spectra and the commission in the draft said it was looking at various new technologies such as digital terrestrial TV, digital sound broadcasting and digital multimedia.
“That is why spectrum management is vital and the draft hopes to address a lot of spectrum requirement for the future,'' the source said.
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/5/21/business/6308397&sec=business
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