Perhaps a better title for this column would be “If you can’t outbid ‘em, join ‘em.”
Up until now, the spectrum has been allocated either through individual licenses or in accordance with license-exempt (unlicensed or “commons”) rules. Now, though, the LSA/ASA is proposing a new, complementary way of authorizing spectrum. In general, the new concept – much of which is borrowed from the work leading to the policy for TV White Space -- will allow established spectrum holders to authorize wireless operators to use such techniques as cognitive radio to utilize the spectrum band.
The GSMA is strongly advocating the LSA/ASA angle, and it may be that we will see some major news releases at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this February. They suggest that it is a valid approach for governments that will enable the coexistence of the non-commercial (aka government) allocations and cellular operators. In addition, they may think that LSA/ASA can provide a way for spectrum policies around the world to be harmonized.
As I have pointed out before, the rollout of LTE on different spectrum allocations suggests world phones will one day involve interchangeable radios and antennas. As with the work done initially with TV White Space, a number of technology-based trials should be established to show proof of concept and to alleviate all concerned parties. For example, the U.S. military has considered spectrum allocations as a place to repack and auction. And since in theory the government can use auction spectrum licensing, it can auction off the ability to share the spectrum, though the government may want to include the cost of upgrading the military’s infrastructure to support using shared spectrum.
One suggestion that the GSMA offers in its whitepaper on LSA/ASA, in which I immediately recognized value, is that complementary spectrum be shared among operators that are close to each other. The whitepaper specifically cites 2.3 GHz in Europe and 3.5 GHz in the U.S. as good targets to enable such a solution. One question that must be asked, though, is whether there is a way to enable sharing that makes it possible for new innovators to participate and not just the established wireless (cellular) operators.
NSN’s Seppo Yrjola has raised the issue of LTE-U -- unlicensed LTE – and in my opinion it would be shame if the principles of sharing did not enable more alternate uses. The suggestion by the GSMA that existing authorities should administer the shared spectrum operators is understandable, though I believe database concepts in use with TV White Space should be applied as well. This points to the issues we face in keeping Cooper’s law (the equivalent to Moore’s law for spectrum) progressing as the absolute of Shannon’s law stands in its way: get more throughputs on spectrum by subdividing the spectrum into ever-smaller solutions, such as cognitive radio and beam forming.
LSA/ASA represents a way to put more spectrum into the market as well as an approach for lending harmony to some of the anomalies of allocation, which is all but certain to contribute to building a degree of momentum in the year just begun.
Edited by
Rory J. Thompson 
QUICK LINKS 
