Ottawa bans white space tech from parts of 600 MHz band

Fixed ‘white space’ devices will be permitted to operate on 60-72 MHz spectrum, but they will be banned from 600 MHz commercial mobile bands, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada announced in a decision Thursday. The decision bans the technology from the repurposed 617-652 MHz and 663-698 MHz ranges. It’s a departure from U.S. rules, which support white space tech on those frequencies. Stakeholder groups were divided over white space access. White space deployments have been raised as a way to address broadband access in rural and remote areas. During the consultations, groups such as CanWISP, 6Harmonics, Microsoft Corp. and the Wi-Fi Alliance opposed a ban in the spectrum range, according to the decision. They argued it could be used for some time before telecoms would deploy on the repurposed broadcast band in rural areas. Mobile providers and others raised concerns about possible interference and recommended a wait-and-see approach, until more evidence comes out of the U.S. Ottawa weighed that the technology is “still at an early development stage” with trials going on in various parts of the country. “Prohibiting use of 600 MHz will have limited impact on the white space market in Canada at this time,” the decision said. “The forthcoming rollout of commercial mobile services in the 600 MHz band will affect many rural areas where this spectrum is currently unused. In particular, greater commercial mobile coverage is anticipated in rural locations due to the favourable propagation characteristics of this frequency range,” it said. “ISED considers the substantial investments that commercial mobile service providers will undertake for 600 MHz implementation warrant a high degree of certainty to allow for efficient deployment.” ISED also ruled out channel 37 -- the 608-614 MHz range -- as “premature” for the new technology, noting there’s “limited demand” for white space and there’s a risk of not being able to “accurately register” all wireless medical telemetry systems (WMTS) in Canada to protect them from interference. The band is used for wirelessly monitoring patient vital signs, such as heart rates, oxygen saturation and other data. GE Healthcare had warned opening up the band could pose a risk of introducing “harmful interference” to “safety-of-life” wireless medical telemetry systems. “WMTS cannot tolerate even small or episodic incidents of interference,” its submission said. The ISED decision meanwhile said fixed white space devices are well suited for TV channels 3 and 4, the 60-72 MHz range. “In the United States (U.S.) these channels have been allocated for white space use which will support the development of the ecosystem for Canada while the rapidly decreasing use of analog consumer devices mitigates interference concerns.” It also expanded the types of white space devices allowed to operate on TV channels 14 to 20, 470-512 MHz, to include personal and portable devices. “Harmonizing with the U.S. will increase the equipment availability and decrease the costs of white space devices for Canadians,” it said. ISED is meanwhile banning whitespace devices from the “guard band” (614-617 MHz) and the lower 5 MHz portion of the “duplex gap” (652-657 MHz), while low-power personal devices will be able to operate on the upper 6 MHz portion of the duplex gap (657-663 MHz). Ottawa had originally proposed allowing more access to those TV bands while eliminating access to the new commercial mobile spectrum in the 600 MHz band. It issued a separate decision on the wireless microphone framework Thursday.

Ottawa bans white space tech from parts of 600 MHz band

Brief | March 14, 2019

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Ottawa bans white space tech from parts of 600 MHz band

Brief | March 14, 2019

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