The explosive growth of mobile technologies and the Internet has placed heavy demands on spectrum in South Africa, and Shuttleworth Foundation telecoms fellow Steve Song suggested that an independent audit of spectrum was needed, to determine how much of it was actually being used.

Speaking at an Institute for International Research broadband summit in Johannesburg, Song further explained that a recent study in the US showed that at any one time, only about 10% of available spectrum was being used, and a similar study in Ireland showed that only 14% of spectrum was being used at any one time.

Spectrum, which is limited, and increasingly in demand thanks to the growth of wireless Internet and mobile users, is currently allocated by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa). A large chunk of spectrum naturally goes to the South African Broadcasting Corporation, and State-owned Sentech.

However, it is widely felt that spectrum has not been allocated fairly, and many organisations which have spectrum are not using it, while other industry players are crying out for greater allocations which they say they will be put to good use.

“Icasa now has to come up with a fair way of allocating spectrum, including the 500-plus new licensees, and the allocation is going to take much longer. So instead of allocating the spectrum, it has to come up with guidelines for people to apply for spectrum,” said iBurst MD Alan Knott-Craig previously, highlighting the complexities of the issue.

Myadsl.co.za founder Rudolph Muller reiterated that, after the enhancement of competition in the local communications industry, and the urgent need for local loop unbundling in South Africa, the need to address the allocation of spectrum was one of the major issues facing the industry at the moment.

Song explained that spectrum was regulated so as to prevent interference in broadcasting, and he further noted that it was usually sold to the highest bidder, much like real estate. Because regulators were so concerned about interference, there were also gaps left in its allocation – similar to leaving gaps between the slices of a pie.

Spectrum also varies in quality, and allows for different uses, such as terrestrial television, radio, and importantly, WiFi and WiMax. Higher frequency is preferred. It is a commodity that demands technical and economic expertise to understand how it could be best used.

TRANSPARENCY

Song further stated there needed to be more transparency in the allocation of spectrum.

He said that through a recent auction of a 700-MHz band of spectrum in the US, the government managed to generate $20-billion in revenue through the sale.

“But if broadband is a national strategic priority, is extracting maximum value from the spectrum the cleverest thing to do, or is it better to think of other ways of inviting options where maximum value to the country is delivered, rather than maximum dollar value?” questioned Song.

ENCOURAGING RURAL ENTREPRENEURS

The third vital spectrum issue that needed to be addressed in South Africa was the possibility of sharing of spectrum.

Song said that spectrum sharing has been enabled through technology innovation such as spectrum overlays and spectrum underlays.

Enthusing over the potential that spectrum liberation and sharing holds, Song explained that “technology has evolved to point, where you can take a WiFi-like device, that is smart enough to find the empty (white) space and use that spectrum. And that means its potential for rural WiFi roll-out in South Africa is amazing”.

Taking Internet access to rural areas in South Africa has thus far proved a challenge.

He added that manufacturers around the world were racing to bring these products to market, and so the opportunity now for South Africa was from a regulatory perspective to say, since the country probably used substantially less terrestrial broadcast spectrum than the US for example, that there were vast opportunities to use this technology to deliver.

“It's very very controllable, in fact, how the white space of spectrum is used is that you register with a geographical data base, so you know which technology is in use and you can manage it to make sure that there isn’t any interference,” Song said.

However, he said that broadcasting companies disliked this idea. “They are afraid that somehow it is going to interfere with their broadcast technology. And it’s been a battle in the US between companies like Google and Microsoft against the terrestrial broadcasters”.

“It's unlicensed, but not unregulated. So it’s regulated in terms of you having to register with a data base that is regulated in terms of what technology you use and how that technology works. It's regulated in terms of the power it has, but its unlicensed,” Song reiterated.

He emphasised that essentially, this would allow an entrepreneur in a rural area, (if this regulation were passed in South Africa) to buy those devices and start putting up serious infrastructure and open up access in rural areas.

“And the technology is not that expensive,” said Song.