SeattleWireless Node Fundraiser

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Intel and Qualcomm are lobbying to eventually get 80 MHz or more bandwidth 
at 700 MHz.  I was sent the transcripts from recent FCC meetings with major 
companies in which both companies (and a couple others) comment on what they 
would like to see the FCC do.  Intel also provided their estimates of what 
the FCC might see in auction revenue - several billion.  The 700 MHz that is 
now licensed is in 6 & 12 MHz slivers.  From our (Maravedis') recent market 
report:
<snip>The 700 MHz band refers to the spectrum occupied by UHF TV channels 52 
through 69 (698 MHz - 806 MHz). This band has historically been allocated to 
TV broadcasting in the U. S. (FCC Part 73, subpart E) as well as Canada 
(Industry Canada / CRTC).</snip>

Aloha Partners is the largest holder, Qualcomm is second.  QCOM is trying to 
cut deals to buy additional spectrum.  The thinking among people I have 
talked to in the cellular and WBB industry is that the addition of another 
12 MHz of spectrum, if matched with other 12 MHz or blocks,
Recent rulings intend to force migration of UHF carriers from significant 
portions of the band by 2009. The spectrum is divided into Lower and Upper 
'band plans' and then into the various blocks.

Qualcomm is deploying their MediaFlo multicasting video and 'clip casting' 
service using this spectrum starting around mid-2006.  'Clip casting' is 
after-hours/low usage period transmission and local storage of video or 
files (clips). Verizon recently announced an agreement to use this to 
provide broadcast video.

As the spectrum available increases and gets consolidated beyond the current 
available 12-24 MHz under a single licensee, it becomes much more valuable. 
The past auctions went relatively cheap.  The next auctions will likely be 
fought over much more fiercely.  For one thing, Qualcomm has shown a 
willingness to spend money on deployments in the spectrum: they have 
allocated $800 million. And with the Verizon announcement, carriers have 
shown they are interested.  So, this goes from being a relatively ignored 
narrow sliver to a much more viable section of spectrum.

A major advantage of 700 MHz is the desirable signal propagation 
characteristics.  At 700 MHz penetration into building and vehicles is 
similar to TV - much easier and less expensive than at higher frequencies. 
Of course, signals attenuate less and base stations can be located further 
apart.  This is particularly attractive for broadcast type service because 
80%-90% of the usage can be expected to be for 20% of the potential content 
found on cable or the Internet.  That can be used to store the most popular 
content locally.  Aloha partners has not announced immediate plans other 
than to wait and see as they continue to evaluate vendors equipment.  Intel 
along with a few equipment suppliers are pursuing a WiMAX 'system profile' 
that is defined for 700 MHz.

Crown Castle plans a similar multicast network, which they claim is further 
along in development than MediaFlo, although no similar commitments from 
carriers have been announced.  They own a 'sliver' of ignored spectrum 
formerly used for paging.  But they say it is viable for multi-casting using 
DVB-H, (Digital Video Broadcast - Handhelds format) which has recently been 
approved by international standards groups.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Casey Halverson" <spaceneedle at gmail.com>
To: "SeattleWireless Development List" <dev at seattlewireless.net>
Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2005 1:48 AM
Subject: Re: SeattleWireless Node Fundraiser


Nobody really learns from past mistakes of useless silver unlicensed
allocations.  Take a look at the unlicensed PCS band in the 1.9GHz
band.  Its useless....not wide enough for any practical use.   It also
has a 90mW EIRP limitation.

On 12/1/05, Ralph Sims <ralph at sims.cc> wrote:
> That's pretty low-bandwidth isn't it?  Maybe a couple of megabits?  I'm 
> not
> certain how long that would hold up under a group of folks hammering away.
>
> > emergency radio systems operate. There is some discussion at
> > the FCC to make some of the migrating 700 MHz spectrum
> > available to unlicensed or semi-unlicensed use (similar to
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Dev mailing list
> Dev at seattlewireless.net
> http://seattlewireless.net/mailman/listinfo/dev
>
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