Presentation from the UK Spectrum Policy Forum Plenary meeting on 14th July 2015. Presented by John Burns, Plum Consulting and Chris Cheeseman, Spectrum Strategy Director, BT Group

1. Independent consultancy study on
“Licence-exempt spectrum”
Presentation of Final Report and
discussion of next steps
14 July 2015
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2. Project status
• Final report by Plum Consulting is now published
– Includes feedback from SPF Plenary and SPF Cluster 2 meetings in May 2015 plus wider circulation
throughout Forum membership
• Today we will review the Report’s conclusions and recommendations
– We need to decide as a group how we wish to now take forward any of the recommendations with UK
Government and Ofcom
• The Spectrum Policy Forum Steering Board has developed some possible
recommendations, which we would like the SPF Plenary to discuss and potentially
endorse.
• As a reminder, Plum Consulting will first present a brief introduction to the report
and a summary of the main findings.
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3. Report Outline
• What are Licence Exempt Bands and why are they so important?
– Benefits and Drawbacks; Economic and Social Value; Estimating Spectrum Demand
• Current Status of Licence Exempt spectrum and technologies
– Regulatory and Standards Framework; Principal European Bands and international comparisons;;
Recent Regulatory Initiatives
• Managing Interference and Congestion in Licence Exempt Bands
– Interference Mitigation Techniques and Licence Exempt wireless technologies
• Technology co-existence case studies
– LTE and Wi-Fi in the 5 GHz band
– Wide Area M2M and SRDs in sub – 1 GHz bands
• Conclusions and Recommendations
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4. Key Findings
• Licence Exempt bands serve a diverse market and provide large economic
and social benefits
– Applications include wireless access (Wi-Fi), RFID, medical devices, audio / video links, alarm systems
and a growing range of M2M uses
• International Harmonisation is particularly important for free circulation
and economies of scale
– But not all European bands are fully harmonized, especially below 1 GHz
• Effective interference mitigation is key to facilitating co-existence in LE bands
– Hence need for LTE to adopt Wi-Fi style “politeness protocols” (LBT / DFS) in 5 GHz
– Legacy “impolite” technologies adversely affect some bands – e.g. 2.4 GHz video links
– Inadequate receiver performance makes some devices vulnerable to new services in adjacent bands
• Main growth areas are Wireless Access and M2M
– Need to ensure sufficient long term spectrum to support demand growth
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5. Principal Licence Exempt Bands (UK / Europe)
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M2M/SRDs
Wireless Access

6. Sub – 1 GHz spectrum in the UK, EU and US
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• Wide Area M2M applications need sufficient low frequency spectrum
• Global RFID systems require common global band
• New bands recently identified by ETSI and CEPT are available now in UK
- but not in most other EU countries due to incumbent use

7. Wireless Access bands face growing pressure
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• 2.4 GHz suffers interference from legacy devices
• Continuing Wi-Fi traffic growth and future LTE-LAA at 5 GHz
• Fragmentation of the band limits capacity, especially for higher
bandwidth systems (80 / 160 MHz)

8. Three Key Recommendations emerged…
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1. Promote further international harmonisation of licence exempt bands
– especially 870 – 876 MHz and 915 – 921 MHz to support future M2M / RFID
growth
2. Maximise spectrum availability for wireless access
– in particular around 5 GHz where fragmentation and sharing constraints limit
capacity
– Need to identify workable co-existence solutions to protect other services
3. Adopt more stringent technical requirements to facilitate co-existence
– Improved receiver performance to reflect QoS requirements
– Phase out legacy technologies that lack interference mitigation
– Use of on-line registration for connected devices may help in longer term

9. Potential recommendations for the SPF Plenary
to consider, as developed by the Steering Board
1. The SPF recommends that the UK promotes further international harmonisation of licence exempt bands, in particular the
recently identified 870 – 876 MHz and 915 – 921 MHz band that are likely to be critical for supporting future M2M demand
growth in Europe. This may require actions principally in the ITU and CEPT by Ofcom on behalf of Government. The
European Commission may also be able to assist. Interested UK industry players and European industry associations, can
play a key role in championing harmonisation.*
2 The SPF recommends that the UK seeks to maximise spectrum availability for wireless access systems, in particular
encouraging European administrations to work alongside counterparts in other regions (such as the US and Asia Pacific)
with a view to reaching workable co-existence solutions for expansion of the 5 GHz band in time for the 2019 World Radio
Conference (WRC-19). This may require actions principally in EC RSCOM, ITU and CEPT by Ofcom on behalf of Government
and with support of interested UK industry players.
3 The SPF recommends that the UK seeks to improve spectrum efficiency and technology co-existence in existing licence
exempt bands, notably by applying more stringent receiver performance requirements that reflect the quality of service
requirements of specific applications and seeking to phase out legacy technologies that do not incorporate suitable
interference mitigation mechanisms. In the longer term, automated on-line registration of Internet-connected devices
could be considered to facilitate market surveillance and simplify the process of removing legacy equipment, which can
sometimes hinder the introduction of new technologies or applications in licence exempt bands. This may require
actions principally in CEPT and ETSI by Ofcom on behalf of Government and with support of interested UK industry
players.
* following discussion at the SPF Plenary, there has been a minor editorial change to the recommendation 1
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