Ofcom and ComReg have published a joint consultation document that marks a small step forward in cross-border spectrum management.

For years consumers and businesses living close to the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (Eire) have been plagued by the vagaries of international mobile phone charges.

Although this joint Consultation does not address the existing border issues, it does recognise that the deployment of future mobile wireless technologies could be arranged to avoid these difficulties.

The creation of a single all-Ireland licensing regime for both countries was clearly a step too far for constitutional lawyers.  However, ComReg in Dublin and Ofcom in London have been able to agree that the potential award of a licence for new types of mobile broadband should be coordinated with a process that offers the prospect of a seamless service.

The proposed licence award process envisages a coordinated bidding round where applicants can indicate in advance their interest in one or both of the licences.  The sealed-bid auction will then follow a sequential process – Eire first, followed by Northern Ireland.

The frequency band in question is a relatively small unused segment around 1800MHz – part of which was formerly designated for TFTS. The segment has approximately 10MHz of usable spectrum once the requirements for guard bands to protect the services offered by existing licensees on either side of the band have been taken into account.  It seems unlikely that this band will be suitable for mass-market consumer services and it is not designated for mobile variants of WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e) that would require a wider range.

Ofcom and ComReg are keen to maintain the principle of technology neutrality – a spectrum management policy developed partly as a response to the perceived structural inflexibilities of a previous era of what might now be regarded as excessive harmonisation.

This policy of technology neutrality challenges innovative technology developers to develop systems such as HC-SDMA with far greater spectral efficiency than current mobile services – and this in turn has impacts on the potential operators’ plans for business viability.  For the first time in a part of the UK and in Ireland we have the prospect of a truly innovative approach to broadband mobility – particularly for business and public sector markets.

The Consultation Document is available from Ofcom

Notes for editors :

HC-SDMA – High Capacity - Spatial Division Multiple Access is the ATIS/ANSI Standard for Mobile Broadband services with very high spectral efficiency. 

The Author, David Brunnen, is MD of ABFL Groupe Intellex, a consultancy practice specialising in the commercial development of ‘disruptive technologies’.