New licences for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA)
Berne, 12.07.2005 - Within the year, the Federal Communications Commission (ComCom) intends to put licences for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) out to tender and has taken the initial preliminary decisions to this end. Three national BWA licences will be put out to tender and awarded within the framework of an auction. The invitation to tender is expected to be issued towards the end of the year.
On the basis of the results of the public consultation carried out by the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) and the frequencies currently available, ComCom has decided to award a total of 3 new licences for BWA in the 3.41 - 3.6 GHz frequency band. In this way, ComCom intends to stimulate competition in the broadband connections sector in particular.
The licences are to be put out to tender towards the end of this year. In order to ensure that the licences are awarded in the most objective and transparent manner, the new licences will be awarded within the framework of an auction to be held in the first half of 2006. ComCom has commissioned OFCOM to prepare the invitation to tender and the design of the auction.
In the run-up to the fundamental decisions which have now been taken by ComCom, OFCOM carried out a public consultation. There was a high level of response, with 46 replies received by the deadline. Twenty-four respondents indicated they were directly interested in a BWA licence. This also indicates that there is more interest in frequencies than there are frequencies available. The results of the consultation, plus background information on BWA, can be consulted on the OFCOM website.
What is Broadband Wireless Access (BWA)?
BWA is defined as broadband wireless access to a telecommunications network, for example for internet access. BWA is a generic term for various wireless access technologies such as WLL (Wireless Local Loop), FBWA (Fixed Broadband Wireless Access) or MBWA (Mobile Broadband Wireless Access). WiMAX (WiMAX Forum) and HiperMAN (ETSI) are the “brands” corresponding to these technologies.
The WiMAX Forum (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access Forum, www.wimaxforum.org) is a not-for-profit association of equipment and component manufacturers. Its goal is to promote the use of equipment conforming to the IEEE 802.16 standard (http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/16/index.html) by operators of broadband wireless access systems and to ensure equipment compatibility and interoperability. In this regard, the WiMAX philosophy is comparable to that of the Wi-Fi Alliance, which promotes the application of the IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless local area networks (WLANs).
In principle, frequencies in the 3.5 GHz band (at present partially occupied by WLL licences) or in the 5.8 GHz band (currently not available) are used to construct an infrastructure using the above-mentioned technologies. These frequency bands correspond to two of the three profiles defined by the WiMAX Forum. BWA base stations are subject to the limit values of the Decree on Protection from Non-ionising Radiation. Moreover, since 1 February 2005 it has been possible, without a licence, to use certain frequencies exclusively for “in-house” applications (5.15 - 5.35 GHz with a max. power of 200 mW eirp) and other frequencies for “outdoor” and “in-house” applications (5.47 GHz - 5.725 GHz with a max. power of 1 W eirp).
Address for enquiries
Marc Furrer, President, Secretariat of the ComCom, 031 323 52 90
Publisher
Federal Communications Commission ComCom
http://www.comcom.admin.ch/
