Challenges of Spectrum Management: Global and Bangladesh Perspectives

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Challenges of Spectrum Management Global
and Bangladesh Perspectives
Presentation By
Dr. M Abdus Sobhan Professor School of
Engineering and Computer Science Independent
University, Bangladesh (IUB)
Weekly Seminar Lecture of SECS, 6 September 2007
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Outline of Presentation 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Radi
o Spectrum 2. Spectrum Management 3. Birth of
Radio Frequency Regulation 4. Challenges of
Spectrum Management 5. Spectrum Management
Process 5.1 Demand 5.2 Objectives
5.3 Tasks 5.3.1
Policy-making 5.3.2 Trends
5.3.3 Laws and Regulations
5.3.4 Spectrum Mgmt Admin Process 5.3.5
Engineering
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Outline of Presentation Contd. 6. Global
Scenario 7. Bangladesh Scenario 8. Some
Recommendations
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1.0 Introduction 1.1 Radio Spectrum The ocean,
the air, and space are common natural resources
shared by the nations of the world. So is the
radio frequency spectrum. No individual or
government owns it. The world community has the
collective responsibility of ensuring the wise
and equitable use of this vital international
resource. Radio frequency spectrum is the
continuum of frequencies of electromagnetic
radiation from 9 KHz to 300 GHz. Radio signals
of different frequencies can coexist in the same
physical space and can be isolated using its
physical characteristics of the transmissions.
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2.0 Spectrum Management ? Multiple radiated
signals can be engineered to coexist in the same
physical space and then be selectively detected
by using the appropriate equipment and channel.
? The objective of spectrum management is to
enable the optimum number and types of services
to coexist. ? Spectrum management is not a
simple task of allocating frequencies to users.
It is a complicated and difficult task of
overseeing of all characteristics of
electromagnetic radiation. ? The goal is to
prevent users from harmful interference while
allowing the optimum use of the spectrum. ? The
problem is complex since the characteristics of
electromagnetic radiation vary with time, space,
and frequency.
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3.1 Birth of Radio Frequency Regulation ? The
commercial use of radio, radiotelegraphy,
occurred in the 20th century, in maritime
communication for safe shipping and control of
naval vessels. ? As single use of the spectrum
was allowed then, intense unregulated competition
resulted in interference. ? The Marconi
Wireless Telegraph Company attempted to create a
monopoly. So, started the conflicts with other
companies. ? Meanwhile, the US Navy became
vocal against commercial interests in
establishing communications stations for naval
operations and demanded to be the central
authority for national regulation.
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? Early in 1902, Prince Henry of Prussia
attempted to send a message from his ship to
President Roosevelt thanking him after a visit to
the United States. He could not send it, because
a Marconi equipment operator refused to transfer
it from his Slaby-Arco equipment. ? This was
brought to the attention of his brother, Kaiser
Wilhelm. As a result, the German government
proposed for holding an international convention
for regulating maritime communications. The
convention was held in August 1903 in Berlin. ?
The convention proposed for a protocol that all
stations are to inter-communicate and to accept
messages from any ship. This way started the
international involvement of radio regulation.
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? Then in 1912, the greatest maritime disaster
occurredthe sinking of the Titanic. The role
radiotelegraphy played in that disaster attracted
the publics attention. ? The Titanic disaster
focused the attention of the Third International
Radio and Telegraph Conference of 1912, in London
on maritime safety regulations.
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3.2 The Birth of Spectrum Management ? It was
the rise of broadcast radio in the 1920s that
proved the existing regulation to be inadequate.
? In the Fifth and Sixth International Radio
Conferences, decision was made to formulate
procedures to manage spectrum, and decision was
also made to form the ITU (International
Telecommunication Union). ? Ultimately, the ITU
became a United Nations agency, its headquarters
being at Geneva.
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4. Challenges The tremendous growth in the
wireless based systems and the evolution of the
radio-communication technologies at a much faster
rate have put a great pressure on radio frequency
spectrum management in order that the spectrum is
used in an efficient, economical, rational and
equitable manner. Many new technologies are
emerging like Broadband, 4G etc, which require
spectrum for faster growth. There are growing,
conflicting and competing demands of the spectrum
by all sectors - government, private and telecom
service providers.
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The requirement of spectrum by all sectors has
increased manifold for variety of applications.
The problem is not a dearth of radio spectrum
it's the way that spectrum is used. Study on
deciding which bands would be available for
initial CR trials. Develop cognitive radio
algorithms to enable co-existence between IEEE
802.11b and 802.16a networks in the same
unlicensed band.
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Develop two wireless systems share radio
resources in frequency, space and time, and
coordination methods to be used to reduce the
mutual interference. The effect of interference
produced by the man-made/natural
environment. Study on defining "harmful
interference" within the authorized CR
bands. Study to know how radiated RF power at
its location varies with distance along the
ground, among obstructions and up in the air.
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Develop practical algorithms for the
spectrum-sensing cognitive radio for exchanging
spectrum-monitoring data between cooperating
communications nodes. Mapping of the local RF
environment of low, medium and high bands,
mapping as a function of space, time and
frequency propagation. Study on the complex
multipath components--thereby accounting for
reflections of signals from objects such as
buildings and vehicles. Study on defining the
rights of the licensed spectrum band users where
CR technology is authorized.
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5. Spectrum Management Process The Spectrum
Management has three distinct areas to work
with 1. Demand 2. Objectives, and 3.
Tasks The tasks comprises of 3.1
Policy Making, 3.2 Trends 3.3 Laws and
Regulations 3.4 Administration 3.5 Engineering
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5.1 Demand The number of radio systems in
operation worldwide is huge and increasing
rapidly. Liberalization and deregulation are
introducing new services and new technologies,
thereby generating unprecedented demand for radio
frequencies. The ITU records indicate the
demand exceeds what can further be assigned. No
place exists for new radio stations in certain
frequency bands and geographical regions.
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Several questions to address ? First, is
the spectrum congestion real? ? Second, if
it is real, what can be done to solve it? ?
Third, does the law of nature influence the
spectrum/orbit scarcity or does our mismanagement
create the problem? The scarcity issue has
serious implications for the future of services
and applications and warrants critical review and
analysis.
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5.2 Objectives At the beginning period,
spectrum management focused on the regulations
and procedures for dealing with technical issues,
operating and licensing, and administration.
But, today, spectrum management includes
activities relevant to regulations, planning,
allocation, assignment, use, and control of the
radio frequency spectrum and the satellite
orbits. For any spectrum management system to
be useful and effective in today's world, it
should take account of sound spectrum
engineering, monitoring, and enforcement.
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The underlying objectives of any spectrum
management system should be to 1. Convey
policy goals, 2. Apportion scarcity, 3. Avoid
conflicts. These objectives should be met,
paying close attention to social, political,
economic, ecological, and other concerns. 5.3
Tasks 5.3.1 Policy-making The Table of
Frequency Allocations of the Radio Regulations
provides the frequency allocation principles on
the basis of which the spectrum/orbit resources
are used.
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It is important to understand the various
references to the distribution of a frequency
band Allocation refers to the distribution of
a frequency band to a wireless service allotment
to a country or area, and assignment to an
individual station. The coverage area for
allocations could be worldwide or regional to
ensure uniformity throughout a particular region.
As regards to an assignment, it could be to an
individual station or to a group of stations, as
needed by the country.
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There are two frequency distribution methods 1.
Ad hoc managed services - a system frequently
described as first-come first served. 2. A a
priori planning, an assignment receives
protection from any other assignment.
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5.3.2 Trends In a rapidly changing world, the
current spectrum management policies and
practices, need further reviews and changes.
Current trends indicate that 1. Many countries
are abandoning the state monopoly, while allowing
the private sector and non-governmental
international corporations to increase their
share 2. A single market encompassing a
competitive worldwide market economy is
emerging 3. New technology developments are
announced every day, including the accelerated
pace of their introduction in the marketplace 4.
Digital signal processing with great potential
for new integration of services is available 5.
New satellite and stratospheric station
technologies, not yet fully exploited, are being
deployed.
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The framework of the present regulations is
inadequate to handle all these new developments.
Many industry experts believe it is time for
redistribution and better use of radio waves. ?
The basic complaint of every user is that the
Radio Regulations are too complicated and
excessively rigid. Spectrum management the
shift toward competitive market economy
mechanism. ? Let the market decide spread and
price of spectrum.
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5.3.3 Laws and Regulations ? Each sovereign
state has its own administration with the
mandate to use all means possible to facilitate
and regulate radio communication in that country.
The BTRC is the regulatory authority in
Bangladesh. ? The mandate and terms of
reference of a regulatory authority are usually
regulated by national telecommunication law. ?
This national law also includes a national
frequency allocation table, which is the national
articulation of the ITU Radio Regulations. The
following mentions need focused attention on
spectrum management A. Global regulations
(ITU is the responsible body.)
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B. Regional regulations (NTIA -National
Telecommunications and Information Administration
of US , CEPT - Conference of European Posts an
Telecommunications Administrations of EU, are the
responsible bodies.) C. Local regulation at
national level. D. Management and
enforcement E. Administrative relationship
between frequency management and
monitoring facilities. F. Global and
regional activities on monitoring issues
Monitoring as a key element in spectrum
management complying with the ITU Radio
Regulations.
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5.3.4 Administration Spectrum management process
involves several tasks ? Administrative and
legal support (e.g., record keeping, frequency
assignment, license generation, and so on) ?
Engineering (e.g., analyses of radio
communication systems, including performance
within the systems and the interference between
the systems, EMC computation, band allocation) ?
Licensing (license status, financial records,
complaints received, resolved, and rejected) ?
Coordination and notification. Administrative
and legal support functions are common to all
spectrum management organizations.
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• 5.3.5 Engineering
• Spectrum management calls for decisions about a
  field of technology, which require technical
  analyses of the information, capabilities, and
  choices concerning
• ? RF spectrum Bandwidth ?
  Emission designators Power
• ? Receiver sensitivity
  ? Transmission lines
• ? Distance and azimuth calculations
• ? Radio wave propagation ?
  Antenna basics ? Coordination
• ? Frequency planning ?
  Optimization
• ? Electro-magnetic compatibility (EMC)
• ? Electro-magnetic interference (EMI)
• ? Harmonics
  ? Inter-modulation
• ? Radiation hazards (RADHAZ) ? Electronic
  warfare (EW)

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Technical analyses in the above areas are
critical to facilitate the resolution of many
spectrum allocation issues involving spectrum use
and future requirements the interference issues.
Through these analyses, equipment
specifications and standards necessary to
establish compatibility between systems are
determined, using models or methods developed
through engineering support. The models and
methods also help assign frequencies. The
analytical tasks are very complex, with many
steps and considerations needed for efficient
radio spectrum use and interference-free services.
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6.0 Global Scenario The inherent nature of
radio spectrum is pervasive and trans-national
and it demands consideration at international or
global level. The radio spectrum management (RSM)
involves international framework to operate on
several multilateral and bilateral dimensions.
The global regulatory framework is provided by
the International Telecommunication Union
(ITU). The main priorities of ITUs RSM
are 1. Protect against harmful
interference. 2. Allocate radio services to
various RF bands . 3. Promote the effective use
of spectrum and geostationary orbit.
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Digitization of radio technology resulted in
blurring of well-defined old and analog radio
systems and services. As a result, the RSM task
has become very difficult for the national and
international regulatory authorities. This has
created the following difficulties.
Frequency bands have become very complex.
Question has arisen as to how the strategic
decision-making relating to future
services should be made. Question has also
arisen as to how the regulatory framework
could be more flexible to respond against the
changing technologies and demands.
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Some Challenges Though the developing
countries have numerical majority in the ITU like
that in the United Nations, due to lack of
technical and financial resources, they are
handicapped in the effective decision-making
process in the ITU. Threats to their
interests could be expected to increase due to
more active participation of the private entities
in the ITU. It is therefore necessary to for
the developing nations on their or jointly to
make extra efforts to actively and extensively
participate in ITU decision-making at all levels
to protect their interests. The privatization
and liberalization of telecommunications are
increasing the number of private companies
(service providers) in national and international
and foreign markets. These entities will
significantly influence the ITU policies and
decisions to jeopardize public interests.
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Some Challenges The ITU clearly lacks strong
and effective management mechanisms and
enforcement powers. ITU should be vested
with more management powers to avoid such
situations.
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7.0 Bangladesh Scenario In Bangladesh,
recently, have been a number of activities in the
Telecom Regulatory regime. ? Deregulation of
VSAT has been done long back. ? National
Telecom Policy has been made. ? Bangladesh
Telecommunication Telecom Regulatory Commission
has been formed by a parliamentary act. ? BTTB
monopoly from Land telephone is withdrawn.
Private sector Land telephone operators have got
license to operate in Dhaka and other parts of
the country. ? VOIP has been allowed partially
according to recent circular.
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At the legal, policy and regulatory issues of the
telecom sector of Bangladesh, substantial
initiatives have been taken up. A number of
projects are being implemented to strengthen the
legal, policy and regulatory regime of the
telecom sector of Bangladesh. Many of the
initiatives made positive impacts on the Spectrum
Management issues. We briefly describe about the
achievements of these projects. A. Project
Title Strengthening the Institutional Capacity
of BTRC Final Report
BGD/03/003 Financed by United Nations
Development Program
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Objectives of the Project ? Establish a
regulatory information system to facilitate the
implementation of the Telecom Act, regulations,
standards and monitoring the impact thereof on
the performance of the sector enforcement of
corrective measures of the sector on course. ?
Facilitate interconnections of licensed operator
networks, timely and cost effectively to support
the needs of end-to- end connectivity at
acceptable quality pf service (QoS) ? Provide
institutional support to the BTRC through
strengthening of Networking of consumer societies
with the BTRC.
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? Review and customize generic licensing
requirements to facilitate realization of the
sector policy and the sector performance
target. ? Strengthen the startup phase of the
BTRC and establish institutional support
facilities to boost up the pace of progress of
the sector and to enable preparation of
full-scale project document. This assistance
complemented and supported a separate effort of
BTRC with the World Bank funded project. This
aims to strengthen a regulatory system, capable
of ensuring public and private participation so
as to enhance rapid growth of the telecom sector
and bridge the digital divide.
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Provide the servers, workstations with LAN
facilities, services of consultants to make
available expert advises and equipment on the
Regulatory Information System (RIS), the Point of
Interconnection amongst telecom operators.
Strengthen the participatory role of national
consumer societies in the regulatory process
support Assist officials concerned for the
WSIS Preparation to enable realization of the
specified MDGs.. Strengthen the startup phase
of the BTRC and establish institutional support
facilities to boost up the pace of progress of
the sector and above all to enable preparation of
a full-scale project document.
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Achievements of the Project ? LAN Setup with
63 nodes has been completed in June 2004. ?
Server Configuration (Workstations/Mail/Web) and
Internet Connection (128 kbps DDN Line from BTTB)
for BTRC. ?? ? Development of Website and
Web-mail service for BTRC. ? Set up a Point of
Interconnection (PoI) in Chittagong ? Signing
of Partners Agreement between Public Sector and
Private Sector ( Govt. owned Bangladesh T T
Board and 4 Private Sector Cellular Mobile
Operators) as Partners done on 5th September,
2004.
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? RFP Prepared and Tender floated for equipment
funded by partners ? Evaluation of RFP
completed. ? Prepared Contract Agreement for
supply of Equipment ? Contract signed between
Contractor and Supplier of Equipment on 5th April
2005. ? Installation and Commissioning of
Equipment completed ? Final Acceptance Test and
Training ( local ) completed ? Two Training
Workshops on Consumer Awareness Building- Telecom
ICT Services held from 6-7th October, 2004 and
9-11 August 2005. ? ??Initial setup of Regulatory
Information System (RIS) done. ? Training
Workshop on Emerging Technologies and Covering
Issues pertaining to Next Generation Technologies
(NGN, ? VOIP, Broadband Converged Networks,
Wi-MAX, IPv6) held from 27-29 August 2005.
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Radio Frequency Charges have been fixed up by
BTRC as mentioned in the following tables.
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(No Transcript)
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Other charges are given the table mentioned below
Table3(a), (b), (c), (d), (e) Charges per set
per year of Tx / Rx for all ranges Output Power
from the Final Stage of the Transmitter Rate in
Taka are given for respectively for HF and below,
VHF, UHF Band-1, UHF Band-2, SHF 1, SHF 2
EHF Table4 Radio Station/Terminal Charge
Table-5 Miscellaneous Charges Table6
Examination And Certificate Fees Table7
Amateur Radio Operators Certificate Exam Level
License Provision
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Bangladesh Spectrum Management Consultancy
Project ? Spectrum Management Policy ?
National Frequency Allocation Policy and Plan ?
Spectrum Pricing Policy and Tariffs (Task ?
Review Spectrum Management Forms ? Review
Organizational Structure and Staffing Levels ?
Plans for Training Needed
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• 8.0 Some Recommendations
• ? It appears that there exist a number of
  subject matter, where our students and teachers
  can carry out RD activities.
• ? There should be thorough analysis on the
  economic and technical aspects of the NFAP.
• ? Telecom Operators should invest in the RD
  projects in the RD laboratories and
  Universities.
• ? Comparative Studies on The Spectrum Management
  Issues of South-East Asian Countries
• ? Spectrum Management issues to ensure rural
  wireless connectivity should be given priority
  to reduce digital divide.
• ? Do research on OFDM-MIMO technologies for 4G
  implementation.

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