Over to Steve:

- – - – -

Ofcom, the ‘super’ regulator that looks after broadcasting, radio, and telecoms amongt other things has made a bold announcement that it plans to allow the use of whitespace spectrum in the UK and that devices will be license excempt.

Though the technology was initially devised in the US, Ofcom is the first regulator to openly welcome the technology and announce its plans for the spectrum and technology use.

What’s it good for?

Though Ofcom wont dictate what whitespace spectrum can be used for, they envisage it being used for wireless broadband (using the TV bands) as the radio signals propogate well (i.e. travel long distances) and go through buildings well too (or you wouldn’t be able to watch TV) which suits rural broadband and helps reduce the digital divide. The spectrum can also be used for WiFi like services i.e. high speed, localised services which could be used to offer connectivity around the house for things like Internet and even video and moving to the true Internet of things where all devices will eventually be connected. There are also uses for machine-to-machine communications devices, there are a many types of M2M type services which could be anything from home smart metering systems to transportation communications – so a car’s electronic management unit would be permanently connected back to the manufacturer’s monitoring systems and could fix fault remotely. In car M2M would also allow insurance companies to monitor the driving characteristics of the car (well driver) and the insurance on the car could be based on how safely the car is driven, also suiting auto-toll functions etc.

What is Whitespace Spectrum

Whitespace spectrum are sets of frequencies that are not being used in a particular area i.e. it’s the dead space between frequency bands. These often come about as frequencies will be allocated regionally, so that interference between bands (and regions) don’t occur. This is true for bands such as radio and TV transmissions as neighbouring transmitters cant use the same frequencies or they’d interfere with each other. Digital Television Transmissions (DTT) are based on regional multiplexs which are tightly controlled by Ofcom, but that also means there’s a lot of valuable TV (or radio) spectrum that isn’t being used in a particularregion.

The TV (and radio) bands are particularly valuable as they have extremely good propogation characteristics (i.e. they travel long distances and permeate buildings etc well). This makes them useful for services like wireless broadband. Though these bands are optimal, Ofcom may open other bands as it sees fit.

Geolocation is the key

In order for a device to know what frequencies it can use, it needs to know what area it’s in and what frequencies Ofcom says are available. Ofcom is proposing to utilise centralised databases (which it may subcontract to 3rd parties) which will hold location and frequency info.

When a device starts-up, it must first report its location to the central database and request frequency information, which it can then use. Ofcom may implement a ‘kill-switch’ such that if interference is detected, they can centrally turn-off whitespace transmissions.

License Exempt status

Ofcom is also being very pioneering as it is planning to make all whitespace equipment use license excempt (this is the same type of licensing that is used for 2.4GHz equipment such as WiFi and Bluetooth) which will require an SI (Statutory Instrument) which is an ammendment to the Wireless Telegraphy Act.

The UK has on of the toughest wireless regulatory regimes (which is also highly punative for breaches) – which stems from when it was introduced in the early 1900′s as it was much easier to send someone to jail for owning/operating an illegal transmitter than it was for spying. This means in the UK there is no such thing as ‘unlicensed spectrum’ (which exists in say the US) and all equipment that can transmit or receive must be covered by a license. License exempt status means that Ofcom publishes a license (set of conditions for equipment) and as long as the equipment meets those conditions a specific license isn’t required. Someone like a TV broadcaster, requires a specific license, which they pay a large annual fee for.

As part of the European Union, Ofcom has to abide by a harmonised EU spectrum policy, but it is being proactive in making this announcement now and expects equipment to be in the market by 2013. Ofcom has tried to be proactive previously with the auctioning of the 2.6GHz and 800MHz bands (which it initially wanted to auction in 2007), but it was hindered by legal battles with the encumbent mobile operators so those bands wont be available until late 2012 at the earliest, hopefully the UK can lead the world with whitespace.

The UK is also being proactive in terms of producing whitespace equipment with a spin-out of Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR) called Neul already manufacturing systems. Trials have shown broadband speeds of over 10Km supporting 16Mb/s and a single basestation can support over 1m end devices (for M2M applications). By 2012 the cost of adding a Neul whitespace chipset will be around $5 which will reduce to $1 by 2014 allowing mass market equipment to use it cheaply.

- – - – -

Ah very exciting indeed Steve. Thank you for taking the time to write this. I’m looking forward to seeing some real world deployments!

You can find more from Steve over at Euro Tech News.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal passed the complaint to the Competition Commission after 3 and BT complained to them.

The Tribunal now has to decide whether to accept the decision. If it does Ofcom will have to redo its business models on the cost of running a 3G network including the cost of the license fee.

As the complaint took charges into account from 2007, some operators may be due refunds.

And another. And another. And woosh. Across what appeared to be a few minutes, she was text-bombed.

Whether by mistake or by design, she ended up with a heck of a lot of premium rate texts being delivered to her handset. The reader describes it thus:

The 72 unsolicited reverse SMS texts were sent at two second intervals, my daughter was on a trip in her car, when her phone ‘in box’ filled up, she deleted the total content, when it filled up again in the blink of an eye, she again deleted the whole lot, and to this day, we have no idea what the content actually contained.

WIN (as the aggregator in question providing the connectivity for another company who originated the texts) refunded this amount after the reader complained.

All is well, yes?

Well not quite. The reader is — rightly — appalled by the matter. He, I suspect, is thinking that the mobile industry is a normal industry. It’s regulated after all. Right? So this sort of thing shouldn’t keep happening. Right?

Whilst there’s no current complaint, the reader’s astonishment, shock and bewilderment in dealing with both WIN, Ofcom and PhonePayPlus was one I wanted to highlight.

I don’t think he understands how this sort of thing was allowed to go on. And, in many cases… still does continue, only in different ways.

It’s a sad state of affairs when my response to the reader is thus: I’m pleased you got your money back. Let’s move on.

What else can you say?

It’s a seedy industry. It’s roots are seedy. Only a percentage play fair.

It’s a lot better than it used to be, here in the UK.

But there’s still a huge issue between the aggregator supplying the connectivity — and the client companies they work with abusing the aggregator’s connections, often resulting in fines.

What can you do?

Be responsible.

Yes and no. The aggregator viewpoint is simple: They can’t monitor every message. They can’t check every single new service launched. They don’t have the resources. Or they choose not to have the resources.

It’s cheaper to pay the fines, refund the complaints and skim where possible.

It’s all changing though — as premium text message begins to wane in popularity, we’ll begin to free ourselves collectively from the menace that is the premium rate scammers.

Once you get to the likes of the Apple iTunes App Store, the opportunity for scamming seriously diminishes.

Ah dear.

Here’s one of the reasons behind the drop, according to Ofcom:

Bargain hunting : An increasing proportion of us are switching between providers in order to get the best deal. By March 2008, 27 per cent of us had switched our internet provider at least once; 37 per cent had switched landline provider and 41 per cent had changed mobile provider.

Does this mean mobile operators will find new ways of feeling loved so we don’t switch provider, offering us tasty new services and great discounts, or just lock us into longer and longer contracts? I’ll let you take a guess…

Ofcom did say:

“The current arrangements block access to 18-rated material to non-age-verified customers. With increasing numbers of younger children having access to mobiles capable of accessing AV content, mobile operators may need to consider if a binary system at 18 provides sufficient protection from inappropriate content for younger users, or whether a more granular system should be considered.”

The Guardian reckons that’s a sign that we’re going to get cinema style age ratings on mobile content. Not a bad idea, I reckon, assuming operators can put up with the hassle of verifying young customers’ ages – and if there’s a profit in it, I expect they can – I can really see it working.

The story has a happy ending though – Ofcom has confirmed O2 has finally hit the 80 percent target, albeit several months behind its rivals and after threats by the watchdog to cut its licence short unless it fulfilled its 3G pledge.

There’s some suggestions that this is secretly a signal a 3G iPhone is on the way. While it probably is, I don’t think this network build out is anything to do with it: after all, O2 launched the first 2G iPhone, and it didn’t have much of an EDGE network to start with either.

The regulator has announced that it will permit mobiles in aircraft as long as the airline has the backing of either the European Aviation Safety Agency or the Civil Aviation Authority. Ofcom gives the proviso that phones must still be switched off on take off and landing and connectivity can only be switched on once the plane reached 3,000 metres.

Initially, airlines will be able to offer GSM and “if the service is successful it could be extended to 3G and other services in future”, Ofcom says. Is this the death of work downtime on planes as we know it? And how long before there’s an air-rage incident because someone couldn’t keep their voice down in-flight?

The appeals come after Ofcom changed the controls on mobile termination rates early last year, which it said at the time would save operators £400 to £500 million a year and that saving should be passed on to retail customers.

According to The Guardian, the operators are now hoping to get termination rates down to nothing in order to be able to offer all-you-can-eat call plans of the type that have become common in the US. If that’s the case, great. If it saves the operators money, that’s great too – as long as the operators remember to send a bit of those savings our way, as Ofcom asked for.

The regulator is particularly riled about two practices: where customers are given false or inaccurate information when they want to buy a mobile contract; and some “cash back” promotions offered by sales agents where they fail to reimburse the consumer.

If the rules are adopted, it will mean mobile operators will be bound:
• not to engage in dishonest, misleading or deceptive conduct and to ensure that those selling their products and services similarly do not mis-sell;
• to make sure the customer intends and is authorised to enter into a contract;
• to make sure consumers get the information they need at the point of sale;
• to ensure that the terms and conditions of cash back deals offered by their retailers are fair; and
• to carry out due diligence and a number of checks in respect of their retailers.

Anything that adds to consumer protection and confidence in the mobile industry can only be a good thing. Applause for Ofcom.

The so-called L-Band spectrum, 1452 – 1492 MHz, can be used for “mobile multimedia services including mobile TV which could be deployed using a variety of technologies” Ofcom said. The spectrum will be sold off on a technology neutral basis and licences will be tradeable.

With almost all of the operators piloting some form of broadcast TV, I wonder if this release of spectrum will the auction winner move from test phase to a full-on commercial service launch.