FCC Clarifies TV White Spaces Rules, Keeps 30-MHz Spectrum Reserve for 600-MHz Auction

The Federal Communications Commission has modified its existing Part 15 rules related to use of license-exempt spectrum, allowing TV white spaces devices (fixed and portable), as well as wireless microphones, to use channels in the 600 MHz and television broadcast bands.

Separately, the Commission also declined to increase the “spectrum reserve” beyond 30 MHz for the upcoming auction.

The Commission’s Part 15 rules permit devices to operate on unused TV channels, generally known as “TV white space” spectrum.

Following the upcoming 600-MHz incentive auction, there may be fewer white space frequencies in the television band for use by such devices.

The new rules--largely technical--allow for more robust unlicensed use and promote spectral efficiency in the 600 MHz band.

The rules allow use of the duplex gap and guard bands, and channel 37, on a shared non-interference basis with medical telemetry and radio astronomy.  

The rules permit sharing of spectrum between white space devices and unlicensed microphones in the 600 MHz band, and expand the location and frequency information in the white space databases and update database procedures.

The Commission also set new transition periods for the certification, manufacturing and marketing of white space devices and wireless microphones that comply with new rules.

The Federal Communications Commission reaffirmed its decision to set aside a spectrum reserve of up to 30 megahertz of spectrum in next year’s 600-MHz incentive auction, though some including T-Mobile US had requested a larger set-aside.

Non-nationwide providers as well as nationwide providers who currently hold less than one-third of available high-quality low-band spectrum in a given license area will be eligible to bid for the reserve spectrum.

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H Sama Nwana, Executive Director, Dynamic Spectrum Alliance, United Kingdom; Jeffrey Yan, Director, Technology Policy, Microsoft Corporation, Singapore; Rajan Mathews, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India, India; Peter Stanforth, CTO and Co-founder, Spectrum Bridge, Inc., USA; and Apurva Mody, Chairman, WhiteSpace Alliance, USA, will speak about TV white spaces at the Spectrum Futures conference, Sept. 10 and 11, 2015, in Singapore.

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Could U.K. Fixed Line Voice Fall 50%?

It is hard to say where fixed network voice adoption would stand, were most consumers not buying voice as part of a multi-product bundle.

To be blunt, one way to get people to buy something they might not want, is to make the purchase of that product a prerequisite for buying a product in high demand.

Most observers might agree that fixed voice services are bought at a higher rate because they are bundled with Internet access and entertainment video, which now are the key services supplied by a fixed network.

In other cases, voice adoption is bolstered because consumers on telephone networks must buy voice to get Internet access.

Some might say the requirement to buy voice to get Internet access artificially boosts voice purchasing.

But in other markets where such requirements are not in place, bundled services have been quite effective at stemming fixed network subscription losses as well.

Some 80 percent of United Kingdom households now have fixed broadband, while 60 percent access the Internet routinely on their mobile devices. For the percentage of consumers purchasing a DSL-based service from a telco, that automatically means a voice line purchase.

Customers who buy cable TV operator Internet access might not have to do so. Perhaps 26 percent to 30 percent of U.K. households use cable TV for Internet access.

Fixed broadband connections in the United Kingdom were reported in 78 percent of households in 2015, compared to 73 percent in 2014.

The proportion of households with fixed telephony and mobile telephony remained stable, at 84 percent for fixed and 95 percent for mobile in 2015. Many would argue the continuing fixed adoption would not be as high as 84 percent without bundling.

In fact, even with bundling, in some markets, fixed line voice service is being abandoned.

In 2013, About 41 percent of U.S. households used mobile phones exclusively for voice service, a study by the National Center for Health Statistics found.

For the same period of 2014, mobile-only households had grown to about 44 percent.

That might suggest that, absent a mandatory provision to buy voice to get Internet access,  fixed voice adoption might be as low as 40 percent in the United Kingdom.

In other words, up to half of present voice consumers in the United Kingdom might choose not to buy, were it not a requirement for getting Internet access.

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Facebook will keynote Spectrum Futures in Singapore, Sept. 10, 2015, featuring Chris Weasler, Facebook and Internet.org global head of spectrum policy & connectivity planning.Facebook and Internet.org.

Other confirmed speakers will discuss spectrum sharing between LTE operators, spectrum sharing between Wi-Fi and LTE, new access platforms and the critical role spectrum plays for coming 5G networks.

At the same time, the intimate relationship between applications (Internet of Things), core networks (SDN. NFV, cloud computing, fog computing) and all access networks will be examined.

In the coming next generation network, clearly separating spectrum and mobile networks from Wi-Fi and fixed network access, core networks and cloud infrastructure, will be nearly impossible.

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U.K. Average Household Spending on Voice, Mobile Drops, Fixed Network Internet Access Spending Increases

There are some concrete ways to illustrate the growing tendency for advanced communications services to be priced at marginal cost.

Digital products tend, over time, to be priced at retail on the basis of the incremental cost to produce the next unit.

For a cloud-based digital app or service, that cost is very close to zero. And though the cost of access infrastructure is quite physical, and quite costly, the product purchased by the customer is, in fact, a digital product.

And it has been true for quite some time that the incremental cost of an additional unit of any app is very close to zero.That explains the prevalence of “freemium” business models, where the base product is literally “free to use.”

That poses a serious problem for any provider who makes the bulk of revenue from selling a digital service--be that voice, messaging or Internet access.

In the United Kingdom, for example, average monthly household spend on communication services has decreased in real terms over the past five years.

That despite prodigious consumption of mobility services and faster Internet access by nearly everyone.

Although stable compared to 2013, average monthly household spend on communication services has decreased in real terms over the past five years (adjusted for inflation) from £122.07 in 2009 to £117.71 in 2014, representing a monthly decrease of £4.36, or £52.32 per year.

Where it comes to core telecom services, average monthly household spending remained relatively stable at £81.30 per month in 2014, as people are buying more units and more products.

But there is a clear trend: spending on fixed and mobile voice and data fell, while spending on fixed Internet access actually grew.

Average spend on fixed voice and mobile voice and data services both fell during the year, while average fixed internet spend continued to increase, up by £1.84 per month (14.3 percent) to £14.74 as a result of increasing fixed broadband take-up and consumers switching to superfast broadband services.

The M Hotel Singapore  |  10-11 September 2015

Business models also are the biggest challenge for Internet access across South Asia. Hear regulators and service providers explain how new business models and platforms will drive Internet adoption across South and Southeast Asia, and how mobility plays the biggest role.  REGISTER NOW

U.K. 4G Users Increase by 10X in One Year

Smartphones--used by 66 percent of mobile users--have overtaken laptops as the most popular device for getting online in the United Kingdom, Ofcom says.

Additionally, over the span of a single year, fourth generation Long Term Evolution subscriptions increased by an order of magnitude.

Ofcom's 2015 Communications Market Report finds that 33 percent of internet users see their smartphone as the most important device for going online, compared to 30 percent who view the laptop as the most important device for using the Internet.

That shift to mobile Internet has been rapid. In 2014, 22 percent of survey respondents said the smartphone was the preferred Internet access device, while 40 percent preferred their laptop.That represents a net swing of 21 percent, in just a year.

A rapid shift to use of faster mobile Internet access likely is driving the change. During 2014, 4G Long Term Evolution subscriptions leapt from 2.7 million to 23.6 million, an order of magnitude increase.

U.K. users now spend almost twice as much time online with their smartphones than on laptops and personal computers.

On average, adult mobile users spent nearly two hours online each day using a smartphone in March 2015 (an hour and 54 minutes), compared to just over an hour on laptops and PCs (an hour and nine minutes).

One clear trend is that faster networks lead to people using the internet more. Smartphone users with 4G are shopping online more than those without 4G (55 percent of 4G users do this compared with 35 percent of non-4G users).

LTE users also conduct more banking more online (55 percent versus 33 percent) and watch more TV and video clips online (57 percent versus 40 percent).

Users with 4G also make more face-to-face and voice calls over the internet (28 percent versus 20 percent) and use more services such as Snapchat to send photos and videos (49 percent versus 36 percent).

And though you might not expect it, 4G users also send more instant messages using services such as WhatsApp (63 percent versus 50 percent).
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Facebook will keynote Spectrum Futures in Singapore, Sept. 10, 2015, featuring Chris Weasler, Facebook and Internet.org global head of spectrum policy & connectivity planning.Facebook and Internet.org.

Other confirmed speakers will discuss spectrum sharing between LTE operators, spectrum sharing between Wi-Fi and LTE, new access platforms and the critical role spectrum plays for coming 5G networks.

At the same time, the intimate relationship between applications (Internet of Things), core networks (SDN. NFV, cloud computing, fog computing) and all access networks will be examined.

In the coming next generation network, clearly separating spectrum and mobile networks from Wi-Fi and fixed network access, core networks and cloud infrastructure, will be nearly impossible.

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Deutsche Telekom Metrics Improve

Deutsche Telekom has been clear for some time about it strategy to maintain leadership in the European communications market, a strategy that has made T-Mobile US an asset to be monetized.

Somewhat ironically, then, T-Mobile US stands out, even within the context of improving metrics for Deutsche Telekom overall. DT noted that T-Mobile US had grown to become the third-biggest U.S. carrier in the quarter, for example.

In the second quarter of 2015, revenue grew by 15.3 percent to EUR 17.4 billion, with organic revenue growth of 5.7 percent.

Adjusted EBITDA improved by 13.5 percent to EUR 5.0 billion, with organic growth of 6.7 percent.

T-Mobile US adjusted EBITDA by 22.8 percent. Adjusted net profit up by almost 70 percent.

Despite subscriber growth, and in part because DT is investing heavily to modernize its networks, net profit was basically flat, year over year. Free cash flow grew 31 percent, while debt grew 18 percent.

Mobile revenue grew 8.8 percent but fixed network revenue declined 2.7 percent.

Sprint Next to Enter the Pan-Americas Mobile Plan Market?

Perhaps AT&T’s move into the Mexican mobile market, allowing AT&T customers to communicate across the United States and Mexico as though they were in one country--or with low rates--now has ignited a wider response across much of the U.S. mobile market.

First T-Mobile US responded with a similar plan, but added Canada to the unified coverage area.

Now Sprint might up the ante again, according to a post on a Sprint-focused website, and a post authored by a Sprint employee.

The rumored new Sprint no-cost roaming plan includes unlimited calling and messaging, plus use of 1 gigabyte of mobile data across Canada, Mexico and 12 South American countries, might be launched this week.

This plan includes unlimited free calling to Canada and Mexico from the United States and then calling to South American countries for five to 20 cents a minute.

For additional data usage beyond the free 1GB, each additional gigabyte costs $30, billed at $0.00002861/KB.

How about if you're in places other than Canada, Mexico or the listed Latin American countries?

The same data rate applies of $30/GB for high speed data, texting is free and calls are 20 cents per minute.

Countries covered initially include:

• Argentina
• Brazil
• Chile
• Columbia
• Costa Rica
• Dominican Republic
• El Salvador
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Nicaragua
• Panama
• Paraguay

Aside from the observation that no particular innovation by any one leading service provider will go unchallenged for long, most recent innovations involved giving users “more for less.”

That is what we have come to expect in the competitive telecom industry. At a high level, the trend to offer “more for less” also illustrates the long-term tendency of any digital market to drift towards marginal cost pricing.

Most people instinctively would understand or believe that end user prices for any digital product will trend, now or over time, towards the marginal cost of producing the next unit.

Most in the industry will acknowledge that the incremental cost of the next unit of any digital product is very close to zero.

That suggests the long term tendency will be for digital product prices to push relentlessly towards a cost very close to zero. That does not mean literally “zero,” but prices so low the cost is not a barrier to consumption or use.

T-Mobile Has Fastest U.S. LTE Network, Cable Leads Fixed Network Segment

T-Mobile US operates the fastest mobile network, while Comcast operates the fastest fixed Internet access network, according to new measurements by Speedtest.

Note the rankings in the fixed network segment. Only Verizon FiOS is in the top five. That is simple testimony to the effectiveness and relative low cost of upgrading bandwidth on a hybrid fiber coax network.

Fastest US. Internet Access Networks
	ISP	Downlink Mbps	Uplink Mbps
1.	Comcast	104.56	12.71
2.	Time Warner Cable	99.11	19.23
3.	Cox Communications	94.06	21.28
4.	Verizon FiOS	83.39	87.26
5.	Charter Communications	66.31	4.46

Google Keep Direct to Google Docs

Perhaps it is a niche application, but notes (including voice transcribed notes) created in Google Keep can be imported directly into Google Docs. A few of you who have worked as journalists might remember a time when you tape recorded interviews. 

Perhaps some of those chores now can be done using an Android phone, Google Keep and Google Docs. 

Personally, I gave up recording interviews decades ago, but it is a nifty use case, for those who rely on recorded notes. 

Google Fiber for Austin: Biggest Network So Far

Google Fiber is coming to San Antonio, with 1.4 million residents, representing the biggest market Google Fiber has entered, to date. Some might note that the move by Google Fiber suggests Google now is starting to reap experience curve benefits (getting more efficient with experience).

It is an imponderable, but moves such as this, along with the cable TV industry’s dominance of the U.S. fixed network high speed access market, raise questions.

Telcos have been facing erosion of their enterprise, small/medium business and consumer markets for some time. A variety of competitors, ranging from local exchange carriers (especially cable TV companies) to municipal broadband providers, plus over the top apps of all sorts, not to mention product substitution by their own mobile operations, have taken market share, while profit margins have been attacked as well.

Let us reasonably assume that the function of access to high speed Internet, voice, messaging, entertainment and other services remains intact in the future.

How much share can all the competing platforms take? How does the business model for a fixed network telco change? How drastic might the change ultimately be, and how will telcos react?

Some former rural telcos already have provided us with one answer. Both Frontier Communications and Windstream are driving growth by selling service to business customers.

In fact, Windstream approaches the market as does a CLEC, choosing to service business customers with selective networks, and avoiding the consumer market altogether.

Windstream, for example, has expanded its fixed wireless platform to serve Boston, Mass.

The service also is offered in Chicago, New York, northern New Jersey and Milwaukee.

AT&T and Verizon have gotten most of their growth from mobile services. But at least for AT&T, linear video turns out to be a cash flow generator, if not necessarily a “growth” business, as it has become the largest U.S. linear video provider.

Cable TV providers now are the market share leaders in high speed access, however, and remain key players in the consumer market, even as they scale up operations in the SMB and enterprise communications markets. And mobile lurks in the medium term.

The point is that it might not be reasonable to assume the present leaders in any customer segment or application will be the leaders forever. No matter how long the history of leadership in communications markets, everything seems to be changing.

DirecTV had to sell itself. Dish Network will become a mobile provider. CLECs, Google Fiber, municipal networks, cable TV, Wi-Fi-based service providers and eventually others are challenging telco revenue streams, products and market share at every turn.

One bit of business strategy I had imprinted on me  many years ago is that, in a competitive market, the low cost provider wins. Generally speaking, telcos are the high cost provider in every market.

Mobile, cable TV, municipal networks, CLECs, over the top providers and even satellites (for linear video) have lower cost profiles. It isn’t yet clear where Google Fiber ranks, but it is likely Google Fiber also has lower operating costs than telcos tend to have.

If you want to know why network functions virtualization is so important, that is why. NFC helps lower operating and capital costs.

At Least 60% of U.K. SMEs Use Cloud-Based Apps

At least 60 percent of U.K. small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) polled already are using cloud-based applications, according to the latest research from BT Business and British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).

In truth, the percentage likely actually is much higher, if one assumes many cloud-based consumer apps are used as business tools.

Of those interviewed, 43 percent believed cloud-based applications cloud-based applications were a critical element of effective flexible working, while 52 percent said  remote access to company data was essential.

U.K. business’ reliance on Internet access was also highlighted by the research, with more than two thirds (68 percent) of respondents believing that their companies couldn’t survive more than a day or two without a connection.

Full 86 percent of businesses have one or more members of staff working from home on a regular basis.

Some 47 percent of respondents say they have staff working away from the office at least once a week, while 28 percent have someone working remotely every day.

About 50 percent of respondents also said Wi-Fi access when out of the office was an important capability.