1. Deploying Digital Dividend Spectrum
To Achieve Universal Broadband Access
Shivendra Nautiyal
Chief Technical Officer, Emtel Ltd
4th September 2018
Commonwealth Spectrum Management Forum 2018
Port Louis, Mauritius

2. Digital Dividend Spectrum1
Digital Dividend Spectrum
Digital Dividend refers to the spectrum that is made available when existing analogue television services are deployed using digital video compression techniques in the UHF band
The digital dividend refers to the radio spectrum which is released in the process of digital television transition. When television broadcasters switch from analog TV to digital-only platforms, part of the electromagnetic spectrum that has been used for broadcasting will be freed-up because digital television needs less spectrum than analog television.
Source: Digital dividend ITU 2010

3. Digital Dividend Spectrum2
Digital Dividend Spectrum
800 MHZ Band : 790 – 862 MHz
Allocated to mobile service for Region 1
WRC-07, WRC-12
2x30 MHz
700 MHZ Band : 694 – 790 MHz
Allocated to mobile service for Region 1
WRC-15
2x30 MHz
Source: Huawei LTE APT 700 Whitepaper , 2016

4. How do we achieve Universal Broadband Access ?3
How do we achieve Universal Broadband Access ?

5. 4
Mobile Broadband
Mobile broadband is the already the main broadband access medium
Mobile broadband penetration is 4 times higher than fixed broadband
Source: ITU Key ICT Indicators, 2017

6. Mobile Broadband 5 Similar trend is observed in Mauritius
Escalated growth in last 2 years

7. Faster network deployment (Improved Time to market) 6
Why Mobile Broadband ?
Faster network deployment (Improved Time to market)
Cost effective mobile phones and dongles
Mobility is essential for many applications – Maps, Transport, ePayment
Affordable and Flexible data packages
Daily, Weekly , Monthly

8. Mobile Data Growth 7 Source: Ericsson Mobility Report, June 2018
Mobile data traffic to grow by a CAGR of 47% over the period

9. 8
Economic Impact
The Mobile Telecom sector continues to offer unprecedented opportunities for economic growth in both Developing and Developed markets.
In 2017, Mobile industry contribution to GDP was 4.5%, and expected to contribute 5.0% by 2022
Increasing mobile broadband penetration has a significant impact on a country's economy
As mobile broadband penetration increases by 10 percent; a 0.6 – 2.8 percent growth in GDP is observed.
Mobile data traffic to grow by a CAGR of 47% over the period
Source: Ericsson and the Imperial College of London Research, 2017

10. How to support mobile data growth ?9
How to support mobile data growth ?
Spectrum efficient technologies (UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, 5G)
Additional sites
More spectrum
- Spectrum for capacity
- Spectrum for coverage
Deployment of the latest mobile technologies is still ongoing.
In 2017, 4G accounted for 29% of global mobile connections (Mobile Economy 2018, GSMA) which shows that there is still a lot of work to be done to increase adoption of 4G
However, it is expected that 4G will become the lead mobile network technology in 2019 (at more than 3 billion) and will continue to dominate over the period to 2025
To support the mobile data growth, investment in infrastructure and rollout of mobile base stations is also necessary. This may be in form of the traditional macro sites, but we are seeing more micro sites as well.
Thirdly, to sustain the mobile data growth, it is imperative to have more spectrum available for mobile technologies. There are different frequency bands which serve different purposes in different scenarios.
1800 MHz and 2600 MHz are examples of frequency bands more suited for delivering high capacity throughput for mobile.
Digital dividend spectrum, 700 MHz and 800 MHz are essential building blocks for deployment of mobile networks in rural regions, but also for improved indoor penetration.
Global mobile adoption by technology Source: Mobile Economy 2018, GSMA

11. Spectrum to sustain mobile data growth10
Spectrum to sustain mobile data growth
Coverage Comparison
Bandwidth
Available
High band
2600 MHz, 2100 MHz & 1800 MHz
Capacity 1x
60MHz
for LTE
2.6GHz
60MHz
for LTE
2.1GHz
60MHz
for 3G/LTE 2x
1800MHz
75MHz for GSM and LTE
FREQUENCY BAND
900MHz
Low band
700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz
Coverage
35MHz for GSM/3G/LTE 4x
800MHz Digital Dividend EU800
30MHz for LTE
700MHz Digital Dividend APT700
45MHz for LTE

12. Importance of Digital Dividend Spectrum11
Importance of Digital Dividend Spectrum
Ideal for deployment of mobile networks over large areas, especially rural areas.
Better indoor penetration in urban deployments.
Additional spectrum necessary to meet the demand for mobile data growth
IMS and VoLTE - Requirement of improved contiguous and indoor coverage to have a good quality VoLTE service

13. Benefits of Digital Dividend Spectrum12
Benefits of Digital Dividend Spectrum
Fewer sites required – incentive for mobile operators for rural deployment
Stimulate growth of mobile broadband in rural regions
Serve users in coastal waters
Spur new applications of mobile broadband – Agriculture, Finance, Healthcare
Fully developed device ecosystem
LTE FDD Band
Number of unique Devices
1800 MHz Band 3
7,054
2600 MHz Band 7
6,428
2100 MHz Band 1
5,707
800 MHz Band 20
4,110
700 MHz Band 17
2,060
700 MHz Band 13
1,100
APT700 Band 28
1,040
700 MHz Band 12
936

14. 13
In Summary ……
Economic growth
Digital inclusion and new applications of mobile broadband
Efficient and enhanced broadband connectivity for rural areas and good indoor penetration
Digital Dividend Spectrum Bands for LTE

15. Digital Dividend Spectrum assignment - 201014
Digital Dividend Spectrum assignment
Source: GSMA, 2017

16. Digital Dividend Spectrum assignment - 201315
Digital Dividend Spectrum assignment
Source: GSMA, 2017

17. Digital Dividend Spectrum assignment - 2016
Digital Dividend adoption risen from 3 countries in 2010 to 90 countries in 2016
Digital Dividend now the coverage foundation of many multi-band networks
The momentum for digital dividend spctrum is clearly there!
Well established interworking and deployments
Source: GSMA, 2017

18. Success story – Unitel/Huawei (Mongolia)18
Success story – Unitel/Huawei (Mongolia)
Mongolia is a country with a large geographic area and is home to 3 million people, roughly 850,000 families and low population density (1.9 person per km2)
Rural home broadband penetration in the country was less than 2%
DSL services only available in center of provinces
Only 1000 households were connected to DSL service outside the capital
To reduce the digital divide, Unitel decided to launch ‘Ger Internet’
Use of the 4G network to deliver home broadband
2.3 GHz band was used for the capacity layer
700 MHz band was used for the coverage layer
Coverage for 94% of Mongolia
50,000 households connected to ‘Ger Internet’ after 12 months
Unitel and Huawei’s ambition is to connect 300,000 households
Source: Huawei

19. Success story – Spark New Zealand19
Success story – Spark New Zealand
Deployment of LTE on APT700 band
Launched mobile broadband service in rural areas
New service marketed as fixed broadband alternative
LTE 1800
LTE 700
Source: Huawei, 2016

20. Mauritius – ICT Development Index 2017
IDI Rank 2016: 75 (5.51)
IDI Rank 2017: 72 (5.88)
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 53.23
Active mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants:
Source: ITU, 2017

21. In Summary – Mauritius High mobile broadband penetration21
In Summary – Mauritius
High mobile broadband penetration
~120% Volume growth year on year on data consumption
Off Island capacity investments by all operators (SAFE, LION, IOX, METISS)
ICTA has been supportive with driving required spectrum to sustain the Mobile Broadband growth (1800,2100, 2600 for LTE and 900, 2100 for UMTS Services)
Moving Positively in right direction : Consultation started on L700 and L800.
We are on right track to embrace the data explosion which we are going to see in next 3-5 years

22. 22
Near future MHz for 5G
700 MHz band earmarked for 5G by the European Commission
700 MHz band will be critical to achieve key 5G applications
large area coverage with outdoor-to-indoor penetration
massive machine type communication (mMTC)
ultra reliable – low latency communication (URLLC)
3GPP has also agreed to use UL of low frequency bands for 5G, paired with the MHz and MHz bands
T-Mobile USA planning to deploy nationwide 5G using 600 MHz band