ICASA on 2.6GHz band: Status quo is not an option

The South African Institute Electrical Engineers (SAIEE) recently hosted a seminar and panel discussion on the issue of spectrum allocation in bands earmarked for pre-4G technologies like WiMAX and Long Term Evolution (LTE).

This was in light of ICASA’s recent decision to withdraw the invitations to apply (ITAs) for bandwidth in the 2.6 GHz and 3.5 GHz bands.

Dumisa Ngwenya, General Manager of Engineering and Technology at ICASA, discussed ICASA’s view on the challenges and technical aspects regarding the allocation of spectrum in the 2.6 GHz band.

As it stands today, Sentech and Wireless Business Solutions (WBS) are licensed to operate in the first 65 MHz of the 2.6 GHz band, Ngwenya, as well as several other speakers, explained.

The band is 190 MHz wide, which from a simple subtraction seems to imply that 125 MHz is available to be allocated for the deployment of LTE and WiMAX. Unfortunately allocation is constrained by technical requirements which are further complicated by the bandwidth Sentech and WBS already occupy.

Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) LTE requires paired bandwidth for separate upstream and downstream channels. Ngwenya explained that the two paired bands must be separated by 120 MHz.

With Sentech and WBS already occupying 65 MHz at the beginning of the band, this means that there is effectively 5MHz available for FDD technologies.

Ngwenya acknowledged the accusations that Sentech isn’t making use of the bandwidth allocated to it but remarked that even if 20 MHz of Sentech’s 50 MHz allotment was taken away the problem would still persist.

Ngwenya stated that maintaining this status quo is not an option.

He proposed two alternatives, one which involves relocating Sentech to the middle of the band and another which involves relocating both WBS and Sentech. In either case ICASA’s intention is not to earmark certain portions for certain technologies as suggested by the so-called “Option 1” of the International Telecommunications Union – Radiocommunications Sector (ITU-R) recommendation.

The market should decide which technologies should be used in the band and not the regulator, said Ngwenya.

Nokia, Ericsson and Intel all voiced their support for technology neutrality and agreed that ICASA’s regulations shouldn’t favour one technology over another.

At a round table discussion later in the week Motorola added their voices to those who were present at the seminar in support of technology neutrality.

“There is a place for both WiMAX and LTE,” said Amir Rao, Business Development Director for Motorola Network in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Motorola went on to commend ICASA for acknowledging the issues faced in allocating spectrum in the 2.6 GHz band. They also said that regulations like the “use it or lose it” policy are a good thing to ensure that spectrum is used effectively.

The 2.6 GHz LET/WiMax band << Who do you think should get this spectrum?