The GSM Association says a valuable band of spectrum from 2.5-2.690 GHz, should be restricted to 3G use only, but members of the WiMax community want it kept neutral to stimulate innovation, reports ZDNet.
The GSM Association (GSMA), which represents a range of mobile operators worldwide, issued their plea on Monday for regulators to keep so-called 3G extension bands “reserved for the IMT-2000 family of technologies”. That means 3G cellular technology only — not WiMAX.
According the the GSM Associations press release:
The GSMA is particularly concerned about the fate of the 3G extension bands (2.5 – 2.690 GHz), which it believes must be reserved for the IMT2000 family of technologies.
“By reserving 3G extension bands for IMT2000 technologies, governments will protect and leverage their country’s existing investment in 3G, rather than artificially constraining its potential,” added Mr. Phillips. “A lot rides on these decisions, which will set the path for the evolution of mobile technologies over the next ten to 20 years.”
Members of the WiMax community have claimed that the GSMA is being disingenuous by proposing that mobile WiMax takes the IMT-2000 route.
“Basically they’re blocking us from becoming an IMT-2000 technology… the mobile community is obviously very powerful,” Paul Senior, vice president of marketing for WiMax vendor Airspan, told ZDNet UK on Tuesday.
He claimed that regulators in the UK and US were sympathetic to the WiMax lobby’s pleas for technology neutrality, but said “strong European players” were going along with the 3G lobby instead.
In December the WiMax Forum wrote to the EC, arguing that freeing up the 2.5-2.69 GHz band would “enable innovation and competition in personal broadband services”.
The position expressed by the WiMAX Forum in this letter has been developed with a global perspective in mind. We re-state our belief that the mobile communications and personal broadband markets are essentially global and that each can be satisfied with a range of complementary technology options.
We believe that European development should not be constrained by vested interests artificially restricting the range of system technologies that may be deployed in the 2.5 —2.69 GHz band nor should the introduction of new and innovative personal broadband services be impeded or delayed.
The WiMAX Forum supports the European Commission in recognising the potential need for additional spectrum for IMT-2000 deployments and we recognise that the European frequency arrangements developed for the 2.5 – 2.69 GHz band are configured primarily for IMT-2000.
However, the WiMAX Forum strongly believes that it is important to enable innovation and competition in personal broadband services, and therefore that the 2.5 – 2.69 GHz band, which already facilitates access for IMT-2000, should also be available for complementary technologies, such as Mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e).
The Commission has reportedly not yet been able to find “common ground” between member states. The review is currently out for comment until the end of October, after which point the EC will decide its position.
[...] Hatfield, a former FCC Chief for the Office on Engineering and Technology, is an independent consultant and adjunct professor in the University of Colorado Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program. [...]
Left by dailywireless.org » Fight for the Right (of 3.5GHz) on December 13th, 2006