Subject: Re: [gaia] [TIER] Rural telephony and GSM White Space

From: Arjuna Sathiaseelan <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 4 Jan 2014 12:03:33 +0000

Also cc-ing this reply to the IRTF Global Access to the Internet for
All (GAIA) group: https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/gaia

Interesting stuff..

Also relevant: http://www.lightreading.com/mobile/4g-lte/is-white-space-the-right-space/a/d-id/707003

Apparently the call for allocating the unused CDMA for GSM services in
India and Nigeria:

http://www.cellular-news.com/story/63401.php

http://www.topnews.in/telecom-operators-want-unused-cdma-spectrum-gsm-services-2367559

Arjuna

On 3 January 2014 21:52, Kurtis Heimerl <[email-masked]> wrote:
> Steve Song has put together a blog post on some current advances in rural
> communication, including our work in Papua and on White Space technology for
> GSM. It is available here:
> http://manypossibilities.net/2014/01/gsm-and-dynamic-spectrum/
>
> _______________________________________________
> TIER mailing list
> Website: http://tier.cs.berkeley.edu
> [email-masked]
> https://www.millennium.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tier
>

-- 
Arjuna Sathiaseelan | http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~as2330/

---

From: Arjuna Sathiaseelan <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 6 Jan 2014 12:43:00 +0000

Forwarding this to GAIA (Steve is also in the member's list but with a
different email id - so looks like this got bounced)..

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Song, Stephen <[email-masked]>
Date: 5 January 2014 14:07
Subject: Re: [TIER] [gaia]  Rural telephony and GSM White Space
To: tier <[email-masked]>
Cc: [email-masked]

Hi Arjuna,

> Also relevant: http://www.lightreading.com/mobile/4g-lte/is-white-space-the-right-space/a/d-id/707003

Thanks for sharing this article.  The GSMA say basically the same
thing in the 2013 UNESCO Broadband Commission's State of Broadband
Report (http://www.broadbandcommission.org/).  I view this as a sign
of progress.  The GSMA completely ignored white spaces in the 2012
report (along with WiFi).  The fact that they are now attempting to
spread FUD about it is a sign of the traction that it is gaining.

Their position is disingenuous.  They continue to project the myth
that gaining access to more spectrum is going to address emerging
demand for broadband when it is clear that the real gains are going to
be made from smaller cell sizes.

They also paint a false picture of white spaces interfering with the
emerging 700MHz and 800MHz IMT bands, whereas 470MHz to 698MHz offers
plenty of scope for access.

Finally, while spectrum harmonisation is a laudable general goal, to
be so dismissive of dynamic spectrum approaches is to ignore what is
IMO an inevitable technological solution to what is currently a
massive administrative/game theoretic roadblock.

Unfortunately, as an industry mouthpiece, the GSMA have a
disproportionate amount of sway in institutions like the ITU and with
development agencies as well.

See the the final presentation from Francois Rancy of the ITU from
this ITU Regional Radiocommunication Seminar for Arab
Countries,Tunisia, 9-13 Dec 2013
(http://www.itu.int/oth/R0C06000056/en) where he essentially echoes
the GSMA position.

We need the likes of Microsoft, Google, and Facebook weighing in in
these fora to balance the rhetoric a little :)

Cheers... Steve

> gaia mailing list
> [email-masked]
> https://irtf.org/mailman/listinfo/gaia

--
Steve Song
+1 902 529 0046
http://manypossibilities.net
http://villagetelco.org