licensed spectrum

The Increasing Opportunities for Unlicensed WiMAX

on October 26, 2009  



wimax-spectrum

The debate over the merits of licensed vs. unlicensed WiMAX has been raging for years, but the fact of the matter always has been, and will remain, that both licensed and unlicensed WiMAX have considerable opportunities in today’s broadband landscape. Though vendors and different industry organizations will often try to persuade otherwise, the licensed and unlicensed WiMAX solutions are not at war, and they are often not even competing for the same types of applications.

Simply put, tier one service providers that are deploying mobile WiMAX have traditionally been committed to licensed WiMAX solutions, while tier 2-3 service providers and WISPs that are providing primarily fixed wireless broadband access have traditionally championed unlicensed WiMAX solutions. Now, that’s not to say that the use of licensed or unlicensed WiMAX is ALWAYS tied to either mobile or fixed service (respectively), but for the most part that is the case.

What’s interesting, however, is how much more attention is paid to licensed WiMAX as compared to unlicensed WiMAX in the media. If you look at the amount of attention that is paid to the two different deployment types – licensed/mobile and unlicensed/fixed – in the media, it would indicate that people are far more excited about licensed WiMAX than they are about unlicensed wireless.

Now that Clearwire has launched WiMAX service in 14 markets and people have actually been able to experience the service, enthusiasm for WiMAX has spiked yet again after waning in previous years. And while I do think that the market’s latest wave of enthusiasm for WiMAX is justified (since it is based on positive experience with deployed networks, instead of just the promise of these networks), there is a distinction that needs to be made when it comes to the future of WiMAX. That distinction is the difference in opportunities for licensed WiMAX as compared to unlicensed WiMAX and other point-to-multipoint wireless technologies.

To be clear – this is not an article about which is more important. Both have their own merits and are important for different market segments. However, considering the fact that a vast majority of the attention given to WiMAX is given to the licensed variants of WiMAX, it’s worth taking a look at the market opportunity for unlicensed wireless systems as well.

Really, What’s the Difference?

For many, the difference between licensed and unlicensed WiMAX technologies remains unclear. So before we dive into the … Read the rest

Interview with Michael Deboer from SpecEx, the “Ebay of Spectrum”

on January 7, 2009  



specex

Can you briefly introduce yourself and your company ?

Sure. My name is Michael DeBoer, a Marketing Manager for a company called Spectrum Bridge. What we’ve done is develop an online marketplace which brings together buyers and sellers of licensed spectrum and generally leverages the advantages of the secondary spectrum market.

Can you tell us how the spectrum market is organized between the primary and secondary Market ?

The markets could be compared to the real estate industry. In order to make a purchase on the primary market, you’d have to buy a new home from a builder or developer. If you then sold the house a few years down the road, you’d be selling it on the secondary market, and the person buying your house would be buying on the secondary market. In the spectrum business, the primary market is the one we are most familiar hearing about; 700 MHz, AWS-3, cellular and PCS auctions: i.e. getting spectrum directly from the FCC [ Federal Communications Commission ].

The secondary market is where, to me, the more exciting moving and shaking takes place. It was solidified in 2003 when the FCC adopted new regulations which allow spectrum to be bought, sold or leased to third-parties. It was called the Secondary Market Initiative. On top of opening up a new market for reselling spectrum assets, the new rules also opened up the possibility for a company like ours to exist.

A secondary market transaction would be defined as one in which the license transferred or leased was not acquired directly from the FCC, rather it was acquired from a current holder. That being said, the secondary market is what ensures businesses can still get spectrum they need, even without forking over billions of dollars to win spectrum in a major FCC auction.

And how Spectrum Bridge is adding value into it ?

What we’ve created is a marketplace called SpecEx as a resource where people can find out what frequencies are available on the secondary market; basically leveraging the FCC rules to establish a viable and beneficial market for everyone.  We make it easy to market your excess spectrum or find spectrum for sale with a few clicks of your mouse.  It’s a lot like how the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) works for houses.

Let’s say you’re a utility company or government agency who would like to buy some … Read the rest


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