Tackling the economic and practical issues raised by refarming

900 refarming in four European countries

Incumbent New entrant Government Current status
Finland (2007) Removed GSM only New 900 entrants Revenue collection 3 operators rolling
restrictions on 900 not the issue no objective out UMTS 900
licensees allowing
them to deploy Technical and Commercial launch
UMTS service innovation of UMTS900 by 07
France (2008) Removed GSM only New 900 entrants Revenue collection Public decision
restrictions on 900 not the issue no objective making
licensees allowing accomplished
them to deploy Technical and
UMTS service innovation
UK (?) Advocating their Advocating access Challenges. Consultations,
right to maintain to the 900 band Risk of battling legal discussions,
their existing band challenges potentialcourt cases.
width Timeline for
accomplishment?
Sweden (2009) Replaced GSM only 900 band expanded No auction – no Incumbent and new
licenses expiring by and usage rights collection of entrant agreed.
2010 with reshuffled to revenue Regulator approved.
GSM/UMTS/LTE accommodate the
licenses expiring in fifth 900 licensee Technical and
2025 for four service innovation
incumbents

© GSM Association 2009

Approach seemed to be government/regulator, operators
and vendors working towards common understanding
and agreeing upon the objectives

De-facto accomplishment of 900 refarming years

prior to issues being sorted out in Brussels and on
the European arena in general

GSM to UMTS refarming for existing licensees

November 2007: Elisa launched the worlds first

commercial UMTS900 network

November 2008: DNA Finland reveals it wants to

become second Finnish operator to roll-out UMTS900

July 2009: TeliaSonera revealed their plans on

deploying UMTS in the 900 band

Source: http://www.elisa.com/english/index.cfm?t=7&o=7120.00&did=14417
2008: the French authorises it’s 900
licensees to deploy UMTS in addition to
GSM in the 900 band

Re-farming of the band accomplished while

Brussels is struggling to sort out their
formalities but inline with European technical
harmonisation work carried out

GSM to UMTS re-farming for existing

operators
Resent years the regulator have carried
out several consultations on future use of
and awards of spectrum for mobile,
e.g. 2600 auction, 700/800 MHz band (digital
dividend), future use of 900 and 1800 bands

Responses highlight the importance of

taking interrelations of future use of various
mobile bands into consideration when
making decisions affecting one band

Existing mobile operators with no 900

spectrum advocate they should be given
access to 900 spectrum

Incumbents in the 900 band have agreed

to disagree on 900 refarming

No conclusions reached on 900 refarming

Facing 2010 expiry of 900 licenses and seeking
certainty prior to taking upgrade investments

November 2008: four existing 900 licensees and

fifth mobile operator (2100 based 3G operator)
negotiated and agreed prior to filing a joint
application on renewal of licenses, expanding the
900 band and relaxed terms and conditions

February 2009: regulator consulted on their draft

decision and draft licenses up for award

March 2009: regulator approved expanding the

900 band, awarding new licenses expiring in 2025
and issued licenses suitable for GSM, UMTS and
LTE deployment

March 2009: Tele2 and Telenor launched their

plans for rolling out joint LTE network (both bought
2X20 MHz of 2600 spectrum in the 2008 auction
and both were awarded 900 spectrum in 2009

Telenor and Hi3G have joint UMTS/HSPA network

Tele2 and Telia have joint UMTS/HSPA network
 900 refarming – learnings

 Change of technology in the 900 band is exiting and challenging

 All countries are basically different
 Aggregated band width differs between countries – can band be expanded?
 Number of existing licensees differ – 900 band is divided into licenses differently in
different countries
 Number of existing subscribers accommodated differs (level of GSM congestion)
 Tailor made solutions required
 Period of future GSM operation will probably be different
 Period of co-existence between GSM and UMTS/LTE will differ
 How to transform existing band plan and licensees will differ depending upon existing
situation
 Existing licensees spectrum portfolio and technology deployment differ

880 915 925 960

10
MHz

2 x 35 MHz

© GSM Association 2009

Spectrum for mobile broadband
 Sufficient band width required!
 Combination of coverage spectrum and capacity spectrum required!
 Keeping cost as low as possible means operators (network equipment)
and consumers (handsets) must benefit from economies of scale

 Benefitting from economies of scale only possible if

 Spectrum bands are internationally harmonised, and
 Technical/operational terms and conditions are harmonised

 Operators investment decisions are interrelated

 Value of one frequency band depends upon what other spectrum bands an
operator have or most likely can get access to
 Spectrum cost being sunk as soon as spectrum is bought is a text book
theory which do not apply in real world
 Spectrum cost is taken into consideration in the business case for a
network roll-out as is

© GSM Association 2009

 Core mobile bands for UMTS/HSPA and LTE!
The coverage bands The capacity bands

698 748 756 806 1710 1785 1805 1880

8 20
MHz MHz

8
MHz
The 1800 band 2X75 MHz

The 700 band 2 x 50 MHz

790/791 862 1920 1980 2110 2170

30
10 MHz
MHz

The 800 band 2X30 MHz The 2100 band 2X60 MHz

880 915 925 960 2500 2570 2620 2690

10 50
MHz MHz

The 900 band 2X35 MHz The 2600 band 2X70

Spectrum required for mobile industry to provide cost efficient broadband!

© GSM Association 2009
THANK YOU. For more information visit www.gsmworld.com

Kristin Due Hauge Spectrum Policy Director kduehauge@gsm.org

Brief History of the GSMA

 Founded in 1987 by 15 operators committed to the joint development of

a cross border digital system for mobile communications
 Became the global trade group for the mobile industry, representing the
vast majority of mobile phone networks across the world
 Now encompassing commercial, public policy and technical initiatives,
ensuring mobile services work globally
 The Association’s members now serve more than 4 billion customers
 More than 750 operator Members across 218 countries
 Over 200 Associate Members (manufacturers and suppliers)

© GSM Association 2009