National Frequency Allocation Table, Licensed vs. Unlicensed spectrum use

International Telecommunication UnionTelecommunications Development Bureau

ITU Regional Workshop on Efficiency of theFrequency Spectrum Use in the Arab Region

Amman-Jordan, 5-7 Dec. 2011

Dr. Arturas MedeisisITU-BDT Spectrum Management Expert

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Scope of presentation • Role, principles and structure of NFAT

• Developing and publicising NFAT

• Licensing status of different services

• Comparative overview of different licensing types:– individual– general == un-licensed use– light-licensing

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Role of NFAT• Most important piece of national SM

legislation

Policy

ArtefactsPractice

Telecoms Law, NFAT, rules

NRA

Licence

Monitoring

EnforcementIndividual

General

Radio

Market

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Role of NFAT (II)• The legal instrument for transposition of ITU RR

provisions into national law• Sets the founding and ground-rules for the use

of radio spectrum• May contain some additional legal/technical info:

– type of licensing– technical provisions (channelling, power limits, etc.)– future strategy for the frequency band

• Important to keep in mind the balance of providing additional information vs. consideration of frequency of updates!

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Principles of NFAT• Consistency with ITU RR provisions for

respective region:– NFAT may specify not all services allowed by

RR for given region/frequency band!

• Consistency with any applicable regional spectrum harmonisation initiatives

• Sub-allocations and designations to specific uses/applications:– E.g. RR: Mobile Service -> NFAT: Public

Cellular

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Principles of NFAT (II)• Important role of NFAT as setting the

national departmental SM limits (if any!):– e.g. civil vs. military frequency bands– domains of specialised authorities

(broadcasting, aeronautical, maritime)

• although ideally all spectrum management should be concentrated in the hands of one authority for the sake of maximum efficiency!

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Structure of NFAT• Terms and definitions

• NFAT (sometimes different tables for different parts of spectrum)

• Applicable international footnotes

• National footnotes

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NFAT examples (I)

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NFAT examples (II)

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NFAT examples (III)

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Developing and maintaining• The NFAT is a living document!• The most obvious updating cycle is linked to the

WRCs, however more frequent changes might be needed depending on national content

• Important to include all stakeholders/major spectrum users into the review and updating process:– to ensure most optimal partitioning of spectrum– to ensure understanding and commitment by all

spectrum users

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NFAT publication• Traditional way: hard copy (PDF on the

website)

• Fancy way: wall charts

• Increasingly: electronic online databases!

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Electronic publication example

www.rrt.lt

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Licensing status• May be embodied directly in NFAT or, by

default, by a principle of exclusion:– every radio apparatus which is not granted

any special spectrum access rights by separate governmental order is subject to individual license

– i.e. the users may look up any “special spectrum access orders”, and if their desired apparatus/network/radio frequency band is not provided for, they should apply to NRA for licence

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Individual licensing• Hence the default type is Individual Radio

Apparatus Licence:– given equipment type– at a given place– with a given antenna (type/gain/height)– at a given frequency channel(s)

• This is the absolute safest harbour for both NRA and the user as it provides maximum certainty and security

• But more elaborate types are required to cope with modern times...

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Unlicensed spectrum use• Also known as General Authorisation• Establishes use of radio devices without

individual authorisation• Is suitable for radio services/devices that

have self-containable interference potential

• Two variants may be distinguished:– Licence-exempt application – Commons Band or ISM Band

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Licence-exempt applications• Licence-exempt access usually means a

an order exempting very specific application(s) from individual licensing:– e.g. Mobile phones, Short Range Devices,

VSAT, radio amateurs etc– may be one or more bands associated– some “blanket” conditions are imposed, i.e.

maximum power limit, adherence to some co-existence protocol requirements, compliance with OOB limits, etc. (these often defined in the “equipment standard”)

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Commons Band• In this case the order decrees a certain

band available for use by “any device” :– best example – 2.4 GHz ISM band– still some “blanket” conditions are necessary

to contain the interference, but expressed in a more general way, such as maximum power limitation or other similar generic (technology neutral) requirements of RF emissions, cf. well known example of FCC Part 15 rules

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Benefits of unlicensed use• For industry:

– easier development of low cost wireless devices– economies of scale, cheap RF modules for commons

bands– harmonisation between different countries– simplicity for users

• For NRAs:– reduction of administrative work– no need for planning, coordination– providing for development of innovative industries

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Drawbacks of unlicensed use• For industry:

– no protection from interference– no quality of service assurance for users– usually quite low power limits reduce

communications range

• For NRAs:– uncontrolled growth in number of devices may

bring interference to unacceptable levels– marginal loss of licensing revenues

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Light-licensing (I)• A novel type of licensing, suitable for services which:

– are characterised by high and fluid demand– have a significant mutual interference potential– yet their protection can be established by simple

means/calculation method

• In this case it might be easier for NRA to withdraw from daily handling of these numerous coordination requests

• Instead providing some kind of simplified notification or even automated self-service licensing, e.g. user self-registration of radio devices in an online database with automated interference check– hence, simplified/self-service==light

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Light-licensing (II)• Having some kind of registration

procedure allows:– control/limit the number of devices– collect some nominal fees, both as means of

incentive pricing and to recover licensing costs (i.e. IT application/database maintenance costs)

• Still, even “light” registration requires certain professionalism on the part of the user/operator

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Light-licensing (III)• Examples of services/applications

considered suitable for “light-licensing”:– GNSS ground repeaters– repeaters in public cellular systems– VSATs in harmonised FSS bands– FWA/BWA base stations in dedicated bands

(e.g. 5.8 GHz)– mm-band short-to-medium range (1-3 km) FS

Point-to-Point links– Radio Amateur, Maritime (Ship) stations

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Light-licensing implementation• Via online licensing systems of NRA

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Comparison of different regimesIndividual authorisation(Individual rights of use)

General authorisation(No individual rights of use)

Individual licence Light-licensing Licence-exempt

Individual frequency planning / coordination

Traditional procedure for issuing licences

Individual frequency planning / coordination

Simplified procedure compared to individual licensing

With limitations in the number of users

No individual frequency planning / coordination

Registration and/or notification

No limitations in the number of users nor need for coordination

No individual frequency planning / coordination

No registration nor notification

Source: CEPT ECC Report 132

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General picture

Source: CEPT ECC Report 137

General Authorisations Individual authorisations

Licence exemption License: Administrative

assignment

License:Market mechanisms

Generic uses

Specificuses

Light Licensing

(registration/notification)

Privatecommon

s

Flexibility and spectrum

trading

Authorisation:

Licensing regime:

Management approach:

Collective use of Spectrum

Increasing protection

No fee Cost recovery Incentive prices Fees set by market

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Other important novel terms• Underlay spectrum access:

– a kind of unlicensed spectrum use based on assumption of secondary non-protected non-interfering very low power access, i.e. with emissions below the noise levels of primary service, hence “underlay”, example: UWB

• Overlay spectrum access:– future technology of “intelligent” interspersing of

secondary transmissions in the unused spectrum spaces of primary user. Also known as Dynamic Spectrum Access. Most advanced development: TV White Space Devices

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Conclusions• The NFAT is a very important regulatory

document that sets the ground rules for national SM

• The choice of licensing regime for given frequency band is not a trivial task

• Novel licensing regimes, such as Light-Licensing or Unlicensed use (as well as Underlay and Overlay uses) may bring important degrees of flexibility for NRAs and facilitate more efficient use of spectrum through deployment of innovative wireless services

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Thank you!

Dr. Arturas Medeisisam@sm-jazz.lt

ITU: Committed to connecting the World