700 Megahertz: How Sweet It Is
On Oct. 22, 190 nations will gather in Geneva for the quadrennial World Radiocommunication Conference, which allocates global radio frequency spectrum. Richard Russell, the U.S. ambassador to the conference, describes it as the Spectrum Olympics.
Russell, associate director for technology in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said that while the WRC is as competitive as the Olympics, its goal is harmony. In this case, that refers to the harmonization of global spectrum allocations that will support the rollout of advanced communications services, while at the same time protecting existing ones.
This includes carving out spectrum worldwide for new, advanced broadband wireless services, which Russell said is one of the key issues the United States will be considering at the conference.
Heading into the conference, the United States has lined up widespread international support to use the 700 megahertz band for fourth-generation mobile wireless services, Russell said. And if that frequency band gets a global allocation, it would mean users globally would be able to use just one device anywhere in the world to tap into the new broadband services.
The 700 MHz band will be freed for mobile use in the United States when television broadcasters switch to a digital format in 2009. So, the band is a real sweet spot for mobile broadband because it penetrates buildings and cars better than higher frequencies.
The United States has a big enough market to support development of mobile broadband technology on its own in the 700 MHz band, Russell said, but if that spectrum was adopted globally at the WRC, it would lead to even greater economies of scale, which would result in lower prices for users and would serve as a boon to manufacturers.
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