SA ICT Policy, Law and Regulation
Session 11 – Spectrum

What Is Spectrum?

Why Does
Spectrum Need
To Be
Managed?
Interference

Spectrum - Public or Private
Good
Excludable Non-Excludable
Private goods Common goods /
Rival food, clothing, toys, (Common-pool resources)
furniture, cars fish, hunting game, water
Non- Club goods Public goods
satellite television national defense,
Rival free-to-air television,
air

FM Radio The
Communication
Television Spectrum
Mobile
WiMax
WiFi

Is Not Created
All Spectrum
Equal
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Source: The Mobile Provide: Economic Impacts of Alternative Uses of the Digital Dividend

Is Not Created
All Spectrum
Equal
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The core of
today's
spectrum
policy was
developed
in the
1930s...
which was fine until...
King Farouk in the inauguration of the international telecommunications congress 1938

...until the explosive growth of
Internet Mobile

So is spectrum scarce now?
g to the best
m “Accordin data, at any
A recent spectru available nd any
,
au dit of Dublin a
one place the U.S. it
hat
Ireland showed t le one time in t less
ilab
onl y 14% of ava se. a
is likely th f available
s in u
ectrum waations than 10% o in use.”
sp ic n
- Irish t: Kmymuata Report
Co
e D spectrum is
Marke w America
M einrath, Ne
- Sascha ation
Found

Imagine a conference centre...
..where each room might
correspond to a spectrum band.

Or many conference centres...
Johannesburg Cape Town
Durban

Access to any conference
room A anywhere, anytime.
Johannesburg Cape Town
Durban

Spectrum is allocated like
slices of a pie
Johannesburg Cape Town
Durban

Guard bands
Johannesburg Cape Town
Durban

Unlicensed Spectrum
WiFi
Johannesburg Cape Town
Durban

power
licensed
output
vs.
has a lot
unlicensed
to do with
it

Cooper's
Law
Every 30 months
the amount of
information that be
can transmitted
over a given amount
of radio spectrum
doubles.
http://www.economist.com/sciencetechnology/tq/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13725793

How is spectrum allocated?

First come, first serve

Auctions

Beauty Contest
um
od Rece nt spectr
Without go natural n the Unite
d
e,
governanc alth turns auction i
th e 700Mhz
e
esource w se for States of 0
r
or ulted in 2
out to be w es than if band res e
D revenu
po or countri ose billion US ent.
they ha dn’t had th f or govern
m
ll.
res ources at aottom Billion
ier – The B
- Paul Coll

Alternative approaches to
spectrum management

Unlicensed use

Primary and Secondary Use dipitous
Seren

Serendipitious Re-use Re-Use
8– Unlicensed
Nov 4, 200

Lite Licensed approaches of Television White
use
Licens ing es spectru
m
 Lite
Micropayments Spac
the United
n
.11y- approved i
Sept 26, 2008 – 802

Experimentalnlicenses States
g”
ite lice sin by
2008 “l ed
 stand ard approv
Administrative incentives
the IEEE

Television white spaces
1 2
3 3
2 E 2 E
Johannesburg Cape Town
1
3
2 E
Durban

Lite licensed approach
industry self-regulation
Johannesburg Cape Town
Durban

FM Radio Opportunities
in
Television
South Africa
un-used
Television government
White Mobile spectrum
Spaces
WiMax
WiFi
Digital
Dividend
Spectrum
802.11y
“lite
licensing”

Getting it
right
...fixing inefficient
spectrum regulation can
take a generation or more

Steve Song
email: steve.song@shuttleworthfoundation.org
blog: http://manypossibilities.net
skype: steve_l_song
twitter: stevesong

Creative Commons
Martin Cooper by Rico Shen
Hand Holding a Mobile Phone by WhiteAfrican http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2007Computex_e21Fo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whiteafrican/2736565604/ rum-MartinCooper.jpg
Water Amplifier by mdezemery
We share this... by Miguel Ramirez http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdezemery/295687769/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ibizadj/323305938/
Seattle Raindrops and Flash by by Spappy.joneS King Farouk in the inauguration of the international
http://www.flickr.com/photos/swift/94108224/ telecommunications congress 1938 by KodakAgfa
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96884693@N00/1509615338/
Pigeon Point by John Curley
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jay_que/2042143317/
Other photos courtesy of http://www.istockphoto.com