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Lack of pro-activity from ICASA stifles new communication developments
by Hans van de Groenendaal, features editor, EngineerIT
While regulatory processes in the communications industry are important, these processes should not get in the way of new developments.
This means that regulatory authorities like the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) should be pro-active and agile enough to develop new regulatory frameworks, adjust fee structures and promulgate regulations that track the pace of technological developments. The communications industry is already hampered by long ITU and ICASA processes to make new spectrum available and/or to re-arrange spectrum allocations to meet new developments.
A case in point is the E-band - a relatively new addition to the spectrum - allocated for fixed point-to-point communication. E-band comprises a total of 10 GHz in two ranges 71 - 76 GHz and 81 - 86 GHz. This new allocation far exceeds the current, more traditional spectrum for fixed wireless services, and opens up the ability for the communications industry to offer multi-gigabit connectivity that can provide wireless capacity of over 1000 Mbps.
E-band is an important spectrum that will assist the industry in meeting the ever-increasing demand for cost effective and reliable links that are quick to deploy. Fixed, point-to-point wireless systems are ideal for many applications because of their flexibility and speed of deployment, and their full life-cycle costs are covered as compared to leased-line solutions.
There is a long list E-band applications, including mobile back-haul and aggregation for mobile networks, high capacity business services, healthcare applications to connect various hospitals and clinics, laboratory networks and access to real-time imaging. In education, E-band systems can connect high-performance campuses and off-site locations.
As E-band is not in use for other applications, it has been consistently allocated to fixed wireless services world-wide. One of the key issues underlying frequency coordination is interference between various services. Unlike traditional microwave frequencies where antennas have beam widths of several degrees, the antennas used for E-band are extremely narrow, which means that interference is highly unlikely. At 80 GHz, the energy is focused into a pencil-thin beam which creates a directional transmission that not only minimises the potential for interference, but also enhances link security by making it effectively impossible to intercept or jam without physically blocking the radio frequency path.
Licensing of E-band
Traditionally, micro-wave licensing schemes are based on occupied bandwidth, which also determines the license fee. For example, the fee for a 56 MHz channel will cost twice as much as that for a 28 MHz channel. For E-band, the ITU European Radio-communication Committee recommendations are written around low-level modulation schemes and very wide-bandwidths.
This means that traditional formulas for licensing grossly overprice an 80 GHz, 1 GHz wide channel. In some countries the licensing is still based on traditional approaches, making E-band unaffordable and negating the value it can bring to the communications industry. Other countries have adopted a more sensible pricing approach, leading to large-scale deployment in an under utilised portion of the spectrum.
ICASA should not try to re-invent the wheel, but take its lead from countries where the deployment of E-band has been effectively facilitated by their regulators.
The UK regulator, OFCOM, has introduced a link registration process, and charges a license fee of 50 Pounds Sterling, which includes the cost of registration of the link for the first year.
In the USA, the Federal Communication Commission offers a nationwide license for $895, and maintains a point-to-point link register. To register a link costs $75m, and the process takes a day or so. The $75 registration fee gets the operator a license for ten years. The only restriction is if the link is near a radio astronomy site when a more detailed application is required which may take up to 30 days to be approved.
In South Africa it is only possible to carry out pilot studies, but beyond that ICASA is still applying its mind as to how it will regulate E-band, and at what cost.
It is time that ICASA take a pro-active approach and fast-track regulations so that the country can benefit from the new developments. Unless this happens, the 2020 vision of "broadband for all" will remain a pipe-dream.
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