ISED Consultation on 3800 MHz band: A closer look

Introduction

In this article, I am reflecting on the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) consultation that was released in Aug 2020. This consultation was concerned with one major topic which resulted in tackling two equally important sub-topics in the process. The purpose of this reflection is to identify what was different about this consultation, as there were big differences and a gap between what the consultation has assumed as facts in the proposal and what has been proposed and between what the industry verticals have perceived.

The consultation title is "Consultation on the Technical and Policy Framework for the 3650-4200 MHz Band and Changes to the Frequency Allocation of the 3500-3650 MHz Band".

The main goal of this consultation was clearing the midband spectrum from 3650 - 4200 MHz. This spectrum in the present form has two main components as shown below in Fig. 1. One component is the wireless broadband services (WBS) licences band and the second component is the fixed satellite services licenses band which is held by Telesat.

ISED Proposal

ISED has proposed two options to clear the band. The current main licensed entities are shown in fig. 1.a. First option is simply just doing nothing and keep the WBS licensees where they are. the second option is displacing WBS licensees to a higher band and give them extra 30 MHz for capacity enhancement, i.e. the band would be 3900 - 3980 MHz.

Of course, ISED has many elements that need to be taken care of are in this consultation. There is a decision a moratorium on current existing licensees and the new coming applicants. Also, the timing for Telesat to clear the band to start the auctioning process which is another topic that will need its own full consultation.

WBS

WBS is considered as the entry point for any wireless internet service provider (WISP) in Canada. WBS spectrum itself was proposed by Industry Canada in 2006 in a consultation. It is a shared spectrum where an applicant has to follow the procedure that was released back in 2010 to become a licensee; a licence holder. This licence is made as "lightly licensed" which means the applicant doesn't pay to ISED a lump sum to buy the licence as if it is an exclusive licence that is won in an auction. The licensing fee which is an annual fee was approved to be $0.0042 per 50 MHz per pop with a minimum of $250. The licence is renewed every year and the licensing fee is not retroactive. To put things in perspective, A WISP will pay $420 per year for 100,000 customers it serves when utilizing the entire 50 MHz. The dedicated band for WBS licences is 3650 - 3700 MHz.

WISPs use WBS band extensively, and they are essential to Canadians no less than MNOs in rural and remote areas. They have already deployed more 6,500 sectors across Canada on this band. to understand more how WISPs are important, fig. 2 shows their geographical deployments.

ISED is very active, and they understand very well the vital role that WISPs and WBS band are playing for Canadians in rural and remote areas. They have successfully managed the regulations, funding programs, and processes to enable WISPs. ISED has released a new consultation as I am writing these lines, Consultation on the Technical and Policy Framework for Licence-Exempt Use in the 6 GHz Band, which is expected to be a gold mine for WISPs.

FSS

ISED Policy Framework for the Provision of Fixed Satellite Services was first published in 1998, following a consultation to implement Canada's obligations under the World Trade Organization Agreement on Basic Telecommunications. The policy framework was revised in:

• 2005: to incorporate a revision to the federal government's satellite‑use policy to permit the use of specialized foreign satellites for direct reception of broadcasting services by the public
• 2006: to state that comparative review processes would be used to assign fixed‑satellite service (FSS) and broadcasting‑satellite (BSS) licences
• 2013: to expand the scope to include BSS; implement the first‑come, first‑served (FCFS) licensing process; and reflect the removal of restrictions on ownership and control of Canadian satellite carriers affected through the changes to the Telecommunications Act.
• 2017: to incorporate changes to the licensing rules to reflect the increasing commercial deployment of non‑geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) systems.

2017 was the year when ISED made a significant advancement in finalizing all regulatory elements related to FSS/BSS. In June 2017, ISED released Licensing of Space Stations and Decisions on the Licensing Framework for Non-Geostationary Satellite Orbit (NGSO) Systems and Clarification of Application Procedures for All Satellite Licence Applications.

Telesat last application to operate on the conventional C-Band (3700-4200 MHz (space-to-Earth) and 5925-6425 MHz (Earth-to-space)) was on Jan 2014 and the licence was awarded for 20 years. Telesat was always interested in delivering the best services to Canadians either by their operations or other entities' operations. In this context, Telesat in its reply to ISED consultation in 2005, Revisions to Spectrum Utilization Policies in the 3-30 GHz Frequency Range and Further Consultation, Telesat expressed concerns over the potential interference that would be caused by the proposed WBS service in the 3650 - 3700 MHz band which was referred to as "extended C-Band". However, Telesat explicitly proposed technical, viable, and practical, solutions to overcome this potential interference, which was proved to be a solid and sound technical solution that made WBS and FSS operations work contiguously for over 10 years. It is worth mentioning that Telesat also has chosen not to work in the extended C-band.

Starting in 2018, Telesat started to deploy its Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. LEO is a new broadband constellation. In 2019, Telesat conducted the world’s first 5G backhaul demo over LEO satellite in partnership with Vodafone and the University of Surrey. It was the same year that Telesat celebrated its 50th anniversary.

A low Earth orbit (LEO) is, as the name suggests, an orbit that is relatively close to Earth’s surface. It is normally at an altitude of less than 1000 km but could be as low as 160 km above Earth – which is low compared to other orbits, but still very far above Earth’s surface.

By comparison, most commercial airplanes do not fly at altitudes much greater than approximately 14 km, so even the lowest LEO is more than ten times higher than that.

Unlike satellites in GEO that must always orbit along Earth’s equator, LEO satellites do not always have to follow a particular path around Earth in the same way – their plane can be tilted. This means there are more available routes for satellites in LEO, which is one of the reasons why LEO is a very commonly used orbit.

LEO’s close proximity to Earth makes it useful for several reasons. It is the orbit most commonly used for satellite imaging, as being near the surface allows it to take images of higher resolution. It is also the orbit used for the International Space Station (ISS), as it is easier for astronauts to travel to and from it at a shorter distance. Satellites in this orbit travel at a speed of around 7.8 km per second; at this speed, a satellite takes approximately 90 minutes to circle Earth, meaning the ISS travels around Earth about 16 times a day.

However, individual LEO satellites are less useful for tasks such as telecommunication, because they move so fast across the sky and therefore require a lot of effort to track from ground stations.

Instead, communications satellites in LEO often work as part of a large combination or constellation, of multiple satellites to give constant coverage. In order to increase coverage, sometimes constellations like this, consisting of several of the same or similar satellites, are launched together to create a ‘net’ around Earth. This lets them cover large areas of Earth simultaneously by working together.

This is considered a revolution compared to GEO old technology. Watch this video to find how things have shifted drastically with LEO.

With LEO becoming the standard norm of the satellite industry, the demand for C-Band has declined.

As a result, Telesat has made an aggressive proposal , considered to be generous by some industry verticals, to ISED to clear the band (3700 - 4100 MHz) in two phases by auctioning. However, to finance the required systems and operations that will need to be transformed, Telesat indicated that for 3700 - 3900 MHz, the auction should be conducted through them, and proceeds to go to them directly. Telesat goal was to clear the band for the new 5G deployment that can be utilizing this band, as this band was defined and dedicated for 5G networks by ITU and 3GPP, and then finance their move to align with the new international standards and business model.

Public Policy Challenges ISED Faced

The replies from different industry verticals, such as MNOs, WISPs, municipalities, independent forums, and government sectors, have shown an exciting trend. There were fundamental elements in the proposal that have received the same reply from parties that they have opposing interests by definition. This is considered as a sign of an issue in crafting the consultation. In this section, I try to shed more light on the potential problems.

The problem that the consultation was addressing was clearing the band. Clearing a band of spectrum is a serious matter for all regulators, and it happens every 9 to 13 years for each band on average. The reason behind such a procedure is the evolving technologies, public needs and ever-changing business models.

Policy problems are often multi-faceted. That's typical since the issues that the policy is addressing are not mutually exclusive. Nevertheless, a problem cannot be addressed until it is defined for policy purposes. It is well-known for public policymakers, that defining problems in policy disclosure has many "modes"; each mode is like a language people use to express and defend their interpretations. A policymaker uses different techniques when he publishes a consultation or a decision such as framing, narrative, metaphor, and synecdoche to represent both built-in and new associations.

A frame can be defined as a preconception, a mindset, or any given condition that affects characterization or definition.

ISED has framed the consultation in two ways; the need to accommodate flexible use for fixed and mobile services in this band and Telesat proposal along with the FSSs.

I think ISED was unlucky in framing the consultation as it was done. This framing led to the replies shifting in a direction that was different than what was intended. If the frame was clearing the band, asking more about the need to be aligned with ITU, 3GPP and US plans and structures for this spectrum would have made all parties on an equal footing, although the end result would be clearing the bands for flexible licence use, which is practically affordable by national MNOs. The number of strong comments that I have seen in response to the consultation were showing frustration and to some extent anger. It was the frame that was implicitly understood as if ISED had made the decision. Of course, and to some extent, ISED has formulated some ideas on how to proceed prior to the consultation, which is a best practice in the process of issuing a new public policy. One example is the replies to the options on how to deal with WBS licensees. It is surprising how MNOs and WISPs strongly rejected it!

The second element that I think it added more issues was the narrative. A narrative describes or characterizes the problem in the public consultation. ISED's description of the problem has a storyline. ISED storyline was showing that they are going for option 2. They had a paragraph of four or five lines speaking to option 1 and four pages speaking to option 2. This narrative has led many participants in their responses to reject this option and yet emphasize what would be needed if option 2 to be retained. Although it is justifiable to go deeper on the description of option 2 since it represents the change, the narrative used was very positive and prompting.

Let's wait and see what ISED response will be to the reply comments that the participants are sending on Nov 30, 2020.

These are the thoughts I had about the consultation in terms of crafting. Definitely, I have a detailed technical analysis and response that I will share after December 1, 2020.

Thanks for reading this.