Liberalisation versus
harmonisation
Finding the balance
A. Medeisis, Deputy Director
European Radiocommunications Office
The Modern Tragedy?
Modern SM
Open standards
Reg. Certainty
Mass market
ty
Liberalisation, flexibility in
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HARMONISATION et
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The solution…
Harmonisation
Flexibility
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Harmonisation goals
Until recently was considered being
the cornerstone of (European)
spectrum management
The idea was to achieve mass-market
economies of scale and easy
international roaming across the
fragmented patchwork of 40+ odd
countries
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Harmonisation examples
GSM-900/1800
UMTS/IMT-2000
DECT
TETRA PMR/PAMR
FWA/BWA
Short Range Device applications
Fixed Services, etc.
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Flexible band concept
The perceived slowness of
administrative spectrum assignment
led to calls for “carte blanche”
approach, i.e. spectrum licence
without service or technology
obligations
Paving the way for most efficient and
innovative market-driven spectrum use
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Flexible band definition
“a band in which licences are
technology neutral and can be used to
offer any electronic communications
service, subject to conditions for the
protection of services operating in
neighboring bands and ensuring
safety, while omitting any further
parameters for the use of the band as
such” (ECC Report 80)
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Flexible vs. harmonised
Degree of
harmonisation
High
Full harmonisation (e.g. GSM, UMTS bands)
Low
Medium Medium Partial flexibility (e.g. PMR, SRD bands)
Low High Full flexibility (e.g. 2.4 GHz band, other
commons)
Degree of
Source: ECC Report 80
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Market scenarios
High flexibility
High flexibility
Technology
Technical Liberalised
flexibility market
Low Low
Market dimension High
High
flexibility
flexibility flexibility
flexibility
Prescriptive dimension Market
conditions approach
Low flexibility Source: ECC Report 80
Low flexibility
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The (obvious?) conclusion
The flexibility in itself is not a universal
one-fit-all solution
The optimum is likely to be some
mixture:
– Set of flexible & set of harmonised bands
– Partial flexibility in particular bands
European balancing effort – WAPECS…
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WAPECS briefly
Wireless Access Policy for Electronic
Communications Services
Seeking the balance
Flexible technology (FDD or TDD, etc.)
Flexible (converged) services:
– Voice, multimedia/IP, broadcasting,
Triple-Play, etc.
Compatible platforms: LOCAL ACCESS
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So let’s discuss…
Pros and cons of liberalisation vs.
harmonisation?
How to find the right balance?
What could be the right degree of
symbiosis between administrative and
market-driven or self-regulation?
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