‘Little Guys’ Fear Spectrum ‘Squeeze’ in Digital Switchover
BRUSSELS -- The squabble between broadcasters and mobile operators over use of spectrum freed by the digital switch often obscures other voices, speakers said Wednesday at the Policy Tracker European Digital Dividend conference. As the big players are, public safety services and other “little guys” are lobbying for access, or protection of existing rights, to UHF spectrum. A battle appears to be shaping up pitting supporters of “cognitive radio” against the program makers and entertainment sector.
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The British Entertainment Industry Radio Group (BEIRG) fears it won’t have enough spectrum after the switch to keep offering radio, TV and news programs, said spokesman Alan March of Sennheiser UK. Program services, that spectrum’s incumbent users, have succeeded for years in interleaving in the analog broadcasting space, he said, but there’s a “squeeze coming on” as the digital dividend sees other uses.
Recent studies show less white space will be available after switchover, contrary to U.K. Office of Communications claims, March said. What’s left to the programming sector will be fragmented and more difficult to use, and may suffer from interference caused by “noisy neighbors,” he said. And after all that, he said, “along comes cognitive radio.”
White spaces go unlicensed in the U.S. but not in the U.K., March said. He questioned the fairness of forcing the programming community to pay for spectrum that Ofcom plans to give free to unlicensed devices like cognitive radio. The BEIRG wants “exhaustive and measured testing” to ensure white-space devices don’t disrupt DTV and others, he said.
Europe has no official view on cognitive radio, Aljo van Dijken of the Netherlands Radio Communications Agency said. A Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations task force is studying the feasibility of future uses of the digital dividend and spotting major interference and spectrum management issues, he said. A report expected soon examines the possibility of putting new and future applications into non-harmonized white spaces, he said. CEPT also is beginning a study to determine the most general definition of cognitive radio, he said.
The perception is that full cognitive radio is far off, but if referring to a device that senses when other devices are nearby and shifts its signal, it already exists, said Gary Tonge, who consults for Microsoft. The FCC was lobbied by industry coalitions that include Microsoft, Dell, Google and other major players to adopt rules for testing cognitive radio, he said. Ofcom, in contrast, wants to set basic parameters for allowing cognitive access to UHF TV spectrum and then let industry decide if it can make cost-effective devices to meet them, he said.
New Spectrum Markets
The digital dividend debate tends to focus on liberalizing the primary spectrum market, but spectrum acquisition and uses will require a second (trading) and third (band management) market, said Julian McGougan. He heads public policy for Arqiva, which provides spectrum infrastructure for TV, broadband and mobile services. Customers for band management, or spectrum leasing, don’t need or can’t afford their own spaces or need access only at specific times or locations, he said.
Every network has white space which, if able to be rented efficiently, should be on the market, McGougan said. But users must shield existing tenants from interference, and respect protected users such as the military, he said. Program services are only the U.K.’s most visible use of band management, he said.
Another question is whether safety services can share digital dividend spectrum, said Michael Marcus of Marcus Spectrum Solutions. U.S. law enforcement is mostly local, creating a “tower of Babel” in wireless public safety communications, he said. The FCC proposed “interruptible spectrum” that lets commercial users share public safety frequencies subject to preemption. That system has been a “dismal failure” due to high cost and bad timing, he said, adding that nonetheless the concept makes sense.