The GSM Association (GSMA) which represents the interests of close to 800 mobile operators across 219 countries has been lobbying the Malaysian government to harmonise its allocation of spectrum between 698 and 806 MHz for  mobile broadband, instead of digital broadcast for a while now.

For example, Jaikishan Rajaraman, GSMA senior director, Asia Pacific mentioned this issue to Comm & Tech Asia in July, while visiting Kuala Lumpur to meet with regulators and key industry figures over matters of spectrum allocation for LTE, refarming of the 900MHz band and "aligning digital dividend spectrum plans across Asia."

Then in a press release dated 2 November, 2010, the GSMA said that such a move would be in line with the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity's (APT's) plans for “international spectrum harmonisation in the 698-806 MHz band for Mobile Broadband deployment.”

The APT is an organisation of governments across the Asian region which spearheads development and innovation programmes in ICT in collaboration with telecommunication service providers, communications equipment manufactures and research & development organisations in the region. Currently, 34 countries are members plus four territories and islands which are associate members, while its affiliate members include equipment manufacturers and R&D organisations.

The GSMA claimed that with increased Internet adoption across Malaysia, resulting from mobile broadband, such harmonisation would create an estimated 44,000 new jobs by 2020, many of which will be in rural areas versus 2,100 new jobs if this spectrum was allocated to broadcasting. Also, mobile broadband would also account for a US$1.1 billion increase in Malaysia's GDP, with increased tax revenues of US$2.1 billion between 2014 and 2020.

“The Malaysian economy and society could enjoy significant benefits if the government were to take a regionally coordinated approach to the use of the 698-806 MHz band,” said Tom Philips, Chief Government & Regulatory Affairs Officer, GSMA.

“In order for Malaysia to take advantage of regional economies of scale, cross-border coordination and international roaming, using spectrum within 698-806 MHz for mobile technology and deploying TV services outside of this band is required. Failing to harmonise spectrum with neighbouring countries will ultimately result in higher costs for operators and the wider ecosystem, meaning higher prices and uneven Mobile Broadband coverage for customers.”   

In the press release, the GSMA went on to claim that, “Harmonising spectrum in line with the APT’s regional plans ensures that the majority of countries in Asia Pacific will use the same frequency band to deploy Long-Term Evolution (LTE), the next-generation Mobile Broadband technology.”

“Should Malaysia choose not to harmonise its spectrum, it will not benefit from the economies of scale that reduce handset and equipment costs. By following its own spectrum band plan, Malaysia could lose many of the socio-economic benefits that Mobile Broadband is proven to provide.

“The 698-806 MHz band is the key coverage band for mass-market mobile broadband deployment across Asia Pacific for reaching rural areas as cost effectively as possible and for ensuring indoor coverage in major cities and urban areas.

“Deploying Mobile Broadband in this band will vastly improve rural Internet connectivity and spur the development of new and innovative education and health services for millions of people, as well as enable the wider use of e-government tools and services,” the GSMA added.

We were also invited to interview Kristin Due Hauge, GSMA director for Spectrum Policy, who told Comm & Tech Asia by phone on 3 November, that it had raised this issue several times with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and also had written letters to the Ministry of Information Communications and Culture, with copies to the MCMC but had not received a satisfactory response. So what's up?

The MCMC position

We checked with the MCMC which said that Malaysia decided to adopt the 790 to 862 MHz band at the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU's) World Radiocommunication Conference 2007 (WRC-07), while yes, it had decided to allocate the 700MHz band – i.e. 710 to 790 MHz for digital broadcast.

For example, YTL Communications requires spectrum in this band for its quadruple-play services, especially its Digital Video Broadcast – Terrestrial (DVB-T) TV to be launched towards the end of next year and which will be received on home TVs and DVB-enabled phones. YTL Communications also has 2.3GHz for WiMAX and 2.6GHz for LTE.

The WRC-07 had identified several bands for IMT-Advanced – i.e. mobile broadband, since one of its key technical components is the ability to aggregate blocks of bandwidth, including across non-contiguous bands. For example, for an IMT-Advanced technology such as LTE-Advanced to achieve 1Gbps download speed, it will require an aggregate bandwidth of 100MHz.

Besides 450 to 470MHz, 2.3 to 2.4GHz and 3.4 to 3.6GHz, the WRC-07 identified 790 to 862MHz for mobile broadband in ITU Region 1 – i.e. Europe, Africa, the Middle-East including Iraq, the former Soviet Union and Mongolia; and 698 to 806MHz in Region 2 – i.e. all of the Americas including Greenland.

Region 3 – i.e. Asia and Oceania is divided. Nine countries – i.e. Bangladesh, China, South Korea, India, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and the Philippines opted for 698 to 806 MHz, while the others including Malaysia opted for 790 to 862MHz. Of course, they could change their minds later but this is where it stands now.

In short, the nine, which include the most populous countries in Asia and those with the most advanced mobile broadband – such as South Korea and Japan, decided to go with Region 2 spectrum, while the rest including Malaysia follow Region 1.

However, there altogether are 36 countries and territories in Region 3, including Iran and when combined with Africa, Europe, Russia and the Middle-East, they certainly will enjoy economies of scale in terms of equipment and customer terminals, despite a possible dis-harmony in terms of roaming with the current nine which opted otherwise.

So Malaysia isn't being such an odd man out after all, as it may appear from the GSMA press release.

Anyway, Comm & Tech Asia believes that this should be a small matter for technology to overcome, given the current proliferation of multi-mode, multi-band phones which can roam worldwide and even to support multiple air interface technologies such as Wideband-CDMA and CDMA2000.

The MCMC fully understands that international industry bodies such as the GSMA will lobby to get the most spectrum for its members as this is its duty and role, just as broadcast industry bodies such as the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union and satellite industry bodies have lobbied for a bigger share of scarce spectrum as well, and their respective demands often conflict with those of other ICT industry sectors.

However, the MCMC has to decide based on Malaysia's national interest first. For example, YTL Communication's quadruple-play services  featuring mobile voice, wireless Internet, mobile TV and fixed TV, will be the first of its kind in the world when fully operational. YTL will launch its WiMAX services on 19 November. Malaysia also aims to phase out all analogue broadcasts and replace them with digital by 2015, so it has decided on the 700MHz band for that.

The National Broadband Initiative aims for 97% nationwide cellular coverage, including of mobile broadband by 2011 and the MCMC is opening up opening up spectrum in the 800MHz band – i.e. 790 to 862MHz for mobile broadband, RFID (radio-frequency identification) and other niche usage.