The XIII CITEL PCCII meeting at Ottawa, Canada agreed to hold a half-day seminar during the afternoon of the day before the meeting of the XIV meeting of PCC.II , on “Spectrum Requirements for Broadband Deployment”; the purpose of the seminar is to provide a complete status to CITEL Member States and PCC.II Associate Members of the spectrum needs for mobile broadband systems.

With nearly 50 million Third Generation (3G) subscriptions in the Americas and the great uptake of more sophisticated value-added services, it is of utmost importance for Members of the Organization to understand the reasoning and analysis regarding the need for more spectrum and the best way to balance futuristic, market-based regulations with a timely and effective method for satisfying society’s demand for broadband services.

Countries and regions throughout the world are analyzing and planning future spectrum auctions to meet the new demands of mobile broadband. Legacy spectrum policies must be re-examined for the opportunities before administrations can facilitate new opportunities in serving societies needs. Legacy voice-centric spectrum regulations and spectrum caps can distort competition to the detriment of consumer welfare and economic efficiency. In order to increase the deployment of mobile broadband services throughout the Americas, regulators should consider a review of spectrum aggregation on a case-by-case basis. A country-by-country review of the specific market demands and of the needs of operators to serve subscribers provides more flexibility to regulators than previous spectrum caps and other legacy policies. In addition, it will provide consumers with the benefits of increased efficiencies and economies of scale that are necessary to deploy advanced services.

As spectrum regulators review their countries’ specific spectrum policies, they should consider a few key concepts:

1. Is there significant and measurable operator competition in the marketplace?

2. Is there enough spectrum for operators to commercially deploy advanced mobile broadband data technologies in the next few years?

3. Does the country advocate International Telecommunication Union (ITU) spectrum guidelines for the amount of spectrum required to bring out the next generation of wireless technologies?

The CITEL seminar scheduled from 1-6 p.m. on November 9, 2009, will provide information on the following topics:

• Status of mobile broadband deployments: A current market update will be provided on North, Central and South America networks as well as a worldwide snapshot.

• Mobile broadband spectrum requirements: The seminar presenters will discuss how the increasing demand for mobile broadband applications and the great variety of powerful mobile devices require a quick response from the wireless operators that will need to maximize the spectrum available. Seminar presenters will also discuss the spectrum requirements and recommendations for the near future found in ITU-R Report M.2078, “Estimated spectrum bandwidth requirements for the future development of IMT-2000 and IMT-Advanced”.

• Market Analysis: We will study the effects of spectrum policy and regulations including spectrum licensing, the spectrum caps impact, the effects of regulations on innovation and technical efficiency of networks and some spectrum practices outside the Americas.

The seminar is being coordinated by 3G Americas. If you are interested in speaking or would like additional information, please contact [email protected]

Erasmo Rojas
Coordinator of the Seminar