ITU: New draft "Best Practice Guidelines for Spectrum Management to Promote Broadband Access" http://www.volweb.cz/horvitz/os-info/news-nov05-019.html
New draft guidelines for promoting wireless broadband access were released yesterday at the ITU's 2005 Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR) in Geneva. The draft is now online in English <http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/Events/Seminars/2005/GSR05/consult-replies/Be stPracticeGuidelines.pdf> and in Russian <http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/Events/Seminars/2005/GSR05/consult-replies/Be stPracticeGuidelines-ru.pdf>. The Guidelines reiterate the principles unanimously endorsed at the 2004 GSR, adding refinements gleaned in a more recent consultation with regulators. Some 32 national agencies participated in the consultation, along with the ASEAN group representing 10 countries. We quoted excerpts from the responses in a 6 September news item <http://www.volweb.cz/horvitz/os-info/news-sep05-004.html>. The new draft is likely to be revised in small ways during GSR 2005, which ends today. The Guidelines are an ambitous attempt to define a new global consensus on "best practices" in radio spectrum management. The language is non-coercive but pulls no punches: "...the onus is on regulators to adjust, alter or reform their regulatory codes, wherever possible, to dismantle unnecessary rules which today may adversely affect the operation of wireless technologies and systems. A new set of spectrum management principles and practices will enable countries to harness the full potential of wireless broadband technologies..." The Guidelines promote flexibility, efficiency, transparency and minimization. "Flexible use measures" include: * "Recognizing that wireless broadband services may be used for both commercial and non-commercial uses (e.g., for community initiatives or public and social purposes) and that broadband wireless spectrum can be allocated for non-commercial uses with lower regulatory burdens, such as reduced, minimal or no spectrum fees; regulators can also allocate and assign spectrum for community or non-commercial use of broadband wireless services... * "Adopting lighter regulatory approaches in rural and less congested areas, such as flexible regulation of power levels, the use of specialized antennas, the use of simple authorizations, the use of geographic licensing areas, lower spectrum fees and secondary markets in rural areas... * "Recognizing the role that both non-licensed (or licence-exempt) and licensed spectrum can play in the promotion of broadband services, balancing the desire to foster innovation with the need to control congestion and interference. One measure is to allow small operators to start operations using licence-exempt spectrum, and then moved to licensed spectrum when the business case is proved..." As for managing spectrum efficiently, the Guidelines note that "Regulators can promote advanced spectrum efficient technologies that allow co-existence with other radio communications services, using interference mitigation techniques like dynamic frequency selection and spread spectrum technology..." But we noticed a few minor lapses: in the Introduction, the draft speaks of "consumers" rather than "users," and their list of good spectrum sharing practices omits coding. However, the Guidelines are bound to be influential and encourage liberalization. Robert Horvitz Director, Open Spectrum Foundation Slavikova 11 120 00 Prague 2 Czech Republic email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.openspectrum.info mobile: +420 775 024705 Stichting Open Spectrum Gelderlandplein 75 L 1082 Amsterdam Netherlands _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
