LTE spectrum plan in South Africa: advice from Qualcomm

[rpm]

LTE spectrum plan in SA: advice from Qualcomm

Cellular technology company Qualcomm offers ICASA and the Department of Communications advice on its plans for high-demand spectrum in the 2.6GHz and 800MHz bands

[Hannes]

LTE spectrum plan in SA: advice from Qualcomm

Cellular technology company Qualcomm offers ICASA and the Department of Communications advice on its plans for high-demand spectrum in the 2.6GHz and 800MHz bands

If this is the best "advice" that a formidable vendor such as Qualcomm can manage regarding licensing of the 800/2600MHz band, I can indeed see why ICASA is getting away with murder. Essentially you are saying you cannot comment on the details, and only echo useless dribble like service level agreements, network/spectrum sharing and license eligibility...

Mr Bold, if I was your boss, the cost for this trip would have been recovered from your bonus as I see VERY LITTLE value add... You had the opportunity to discuss important issues such as Total Cost of Ownership for LTE networks in order to contextualize who is best positioned to build such networks, you could have concerned yourself with CDMA-LTE co-habitation of the 800MHz band, which is a very hot topic for ICASA, (which I know is being dealt with in a very interesting way by Qualcomm)..... Governmental interaction is largely turning into a 5 minutes in the boardroom, 5 hours in the pub exercise these days.....

[zamicro]

I expected at least some technical advice, but then only got this piece of dribble.

[Bern]

I expected at least some technical advice, but then only got this piece of dribble.

+1 - maybe something about proposed vs current and some issues to take note of?

[Tetrahedron]

I don't know much about LTE, or the whole Spectrum issue. All I want to know is when it will be available in South Africa. Realistically, what are we talking? Months? Years? Decades?

[MickeyD]

Looks like he's been trolling MyBB as this is basically our responses to the LTE spectrum proposal!

Bold said that they encourage government stakeholders to focus on topics such as:

* Criteria for eligibility as a licensee,
* Guidelines regarding sharing,
* Service agreements and quality of service to ensure mechanisms are in place to address any unforeseen effects such as market fragmentation and the technical and financial capability of new entrants.

[MickeyD]

I don't know much about LTE, or the whole Spectrum issue. All I want to know is when it will be available in South Africa. Realistically, what are we talking? Months? Years? Decades?

At the current rate and if ICASA's spectrum proposal is implemented? 2 to 3 years.

[Bern]

At the current rate and if ICASA's spectrum proposal is implemented? 2 to 3 years.

Maybe a bit optimistic considering it relies on the DTT saga...

I still don't understand how the current analogue system requires so much spectrum for four or five channels??? Is there no way to streamline this now and get some spectrum on line sooner?

[MickeyD]

Maybe a bit optimistic considering it relies on the DTT saga...

I still don't understand how the current analogue system requires so much spectrum for four or five channels??? Is there no way to streamline this now and get some spectrum on line sooner?

The "existing" operator should be in a position to provide limited wholesale services within 2/3 years. No comment on the "new" operator's ability....

[SteveO]

Thats a typical response from qualcomm, they always seem to create issue but they never seem to be able to provide solutions.

[Wimbo]

,

I still don't understand how the current analogue system requires so much spectrum for four ; five channels???

Perhaps I can cast some light on this matter. Have a look at this here document, for example:

http://www.satcomsa.co.za/SENTECH%20...ncy%20List.pdf

Check out TV in Gauteng. You'll see that there are 6 stations carried in total. Also, for SABC1, 12 transmitters use 11 channels (each of 8 MHz) (Channel 57 is re-used by Mulbarton and Menlo Park, both low power "gap filler" transmitters)

In addition to the large number of channels used to transmit these 6 TV stations, all adjacent channels are unavailable, because analogue technology isn't clever enough to filter out anything less than four channels away. So, at Bez Valley, they can only use channels 24, 28, 56, 60, 64 and 68 - four channels apart within each band. That means that 53, 54, 55; 57, 58, 59; 61, 62, 63; 65, 66, 67; etc., can't be used in the same location.

This is a world of difference compared to DTT.