Globally, the radio frequency spectrum is a unique resource from which society benefits. It provides access to a range of private, commercial, consumer, defence, national security, scientific and public safety applications. LUCAS AJANAKU writes on the intrigues that will trail the allocation of the 2.3 Ghz band by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
THE Executive Vice Chairman /Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Communications Commision (NCC), Eugene Juwah, set the tone for the stakeholders’forum on the best option for licensing the remaining slots in the 2.3GHz band on Monday at the Lagos Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja.
Represented by NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Okechukwu Itanyi, he said: “The objective of this forum, in line with the commission’s policy of participatory regulation, among other things, is to provide an avenue for stakeholders and users of the 2.3 GHz band to discuss, criticise, exchange ideas and proffer options that will help the Commission in arriving at a decision on the further licensing of the remaining 40 MHz bandwidth in the band for the benefit of all Nigerians.”
According to computerhope.com, gigahertz (GHz) is a unit of measurement for alternating current (AC) or electromagnetic (EM) wave frequencies equal to 1,000,000,000 Hz; while megahertz (MHz) is, according to searchnetworking.techtarget.com, is a unit of alternating current AC or electromagnetic (EM) wave frequency equal to one million hertz 1000000 Hz.
Making a presentation on behalf of Mobitel, Spectranet and DOPC, Atel Ajha, Chief Operating Officer of Spectranet, did not mince words when he delared that fresh auction of 30 MHz is not advisable, adding that using 10 MHz to provide for five guard bands has no meaning as each it would be 2 MHz.
He aruged that at the end of 2.3 GHz band would require larger guard band due to uncontrolled emissions in 2.4 GHz.
According to him, globally wireline networks provide primary network reach and wireless as secondary reach, lamenting that in Nigeria, there is no significant primary wireline network, hence, wireless become the primary network with extra capacity requirement.
Ajha said to roll out advance wireless network in the country, larger spectrum is a basic need.
Speaking on Front End (Access network)- Capacity Bottleneck, he said access network is front end of local, national and international carriers networks.
He added that higher bandwidth at access network will result in more capacity uptake and resultant drop in prices.
“Without sufficient bandwidth at front end, even carrier networks are not doing well. Today, Nigeria uses only 10-15 per cent of its installed international bandwidth capacity.
“Similar case with national networks, number of empty ducts, number of unutilised fiber, all underutilised due to no front end outflow,” he said.
On ISP operators cost towards international bandwidth and tower rental, he said in Nigeria, a huge portion of ISP revenue goes into connectivity charges and tower rentals, because international bandwidth rates are one of the highest in Nigeria compared to the rest of the world; national long distance and metro network cost is exorbitantly high; tower rental cost is also much higher compared to other developing countries because infrastructure providers have unique problems, such as power, theft and security.
He said NCC’s advertisement to “auction 1×30 MHz to one new operator”would lead to an unfair practice in the industry, insisting that the proposed offering of 30 MHzs to one bidder instead of 20 MHzs to an operator is unfair and reduces the competition. “The communication regulations do not allow undue advantage and lessening of competition,” he argued.
Another unfair competition scenario he painted was that of one operator that has extra infrastructure, such as international carrier’s licence, as well as metro and national long distance fiber owner ship leading to cross subsidy on ISP business creating unfair competitive advantages.
Again, he blamed the uneven frequency allocation between Global System for Mobile (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators played a vital role for CDMA operators’ failure, though there are other additional reasons.
“It is safe to assume that all future spectrum allocations shall provide the adequate guard band. This will lead to uneven playing field in data access network,” the Spectranet chief said.
He argued that there is no guard band in 2.3GHz unpaired spectrum allocations, causing interference between adjacent operators using different Time-division duplexing (TDD) TDD ratio, causing throughput loss for operator and poor end-users experience and additional sites required to cover similar area, resulting in additional cost on operators.
On interference impact on network coverage and capacity, he said transition is taking place from WiMAX to long term evolution (LTE) or 4G globally, arguing that there is severe interference if WiMAX & LTE-TDD network to co-exist.
He said due to interference, cell radius shrinks, which reduce the coverage area of a site while heavy interference causes throughput loss for operator’s and poor user experience, adding that more site need to deploy to cover the similar area, resulting in additional cost on operators.
On ways to eschew interference, he said this could be achieved through either customised /specialised filters, guard band allocations between existing operators or field synchronisation.
He submitted that while external filters capable of providing desired attenuation to mitigate interference are extremely expensive, such filters are not extensively deployed in any commercial network globally.
He said guard band allocation is not a viable solution, adding that while field synchronisation is a workable solution, it will result in throughput degradation.
The operators suggested that instead of wholesale auction of the slots, 2.3GHz Spectrum should be increased from 20 MHz to 30 MHz for three operators while guard band 10 MHz between 2.3GHz and of 2.4GHz should be provided.
“Operators should adjust TDD ratio synchronisation, provided the allocation is increased from 20 MHz to 30 MHz to manage throughput degradation and interference,” they averred.
In his contribution, Chief Executive Officer, Mobitel, Jonhson Salako, said there are other slots that could be put on sale. He said there are the 2.5, 2.6 and 700 for auction. He said the 2.3GHz should be optimised and benchmarked against international best practices, adding that interference is real.
For Nkechi Newton-Denila of Vodacom, stakeholders should take a hard look at the issue. Broadband is cheap in Victoria Island, Lagos. It is also cheap on the mainland, but when it is being extended to the far north, it becomes a big issue because of cost, she said.
According to her, Vodacom operates in about 35 states, providing wireless broadband services at an expensive cost. She wants the operators to hearken to the demand of the operators, adding that all that is needed to be done was to extract a commitment from them.
Kemi Adeyanju from MainOne Cable Company lamented that three years after the berthing of the undersea cable, capacity uptake still remains at less than five per cent in the country while the Managing Director of Swift Networks Limited, Mr Charles Anudu, charged the NCC not increase the misery of the operators by licensing fresh operators.
“What they are asking for is not inordinate. The more we fragment this segment, the more your misery,” he said.
The ball is in the court of the NCC that has the power to determine the direction to which the pendulum swings.
