The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) is calling on industry to comment on proposed regulations concerning the underused television white space (TVWS) spectrum.
Stakeholders had until December 18 to provide input into the draft discussion document on Dynamic and Opportunistic Spectrum Management, which proposed opening up the 470 MHz to 694 MHz band, currently used for terrestrial broadcasting, for broadband services on a secondary user assignment basis.
“The proposed regulatory framework for dynamic spectrum assignment would enable the widespread use of this underused spectrum and, in doing so, promote more efficient use of available spectrum. This paper also addresses the issue of what form the licensing framework for TVWS should take,” the regulator commented.
Icasa was in the process of developing a regulatory framework for dynamic spectrum access to unlock the emergence of new technologies and techniques that promoted “more intensive and efficient” use of radio frequency spectrum.
“The demand for wireless broadband capacity is growing much faster than the availability of new spectrum for supporting wireless infrastructure deployment.”
This meant that future technology needed to increase efficiency in terms of bits per second per hertz, in addition to the development of new wireless network architectures and new approaches to spectrum management.