Sunday 5 February 2012

Contents of module

The Issues

Spectrum management is first and foremost about tackling the problems of interference between different users of the spectrum. When Member States sign up to the ITU they agree to abide by the Radio Regulations which stipulate they should manage their national spectrum in ways which prevent cross-border interference. Interference issues that arise solely within national boundaries are matters for individual Administrations and their respective regulators.

Three key issues concern regulators of spectrum:

  1. interference issues
  2. potential radiation hazards on health and safety issues
  3. efficiency issues

In addition, the regulator must study the following:

  1. WRC recommendations and other ITU spectrum allocation issues
  2. other international agreements, such as come under the WTO, including the Basic Agreement on Telecommunications (BAT) Reference Paper on transparent regulatory procedures, the International Technology Agreement (ITA) commitment to remove tariffs on equipment imports, APEC’s Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) for mutual equipment type approval procedures, and so on.
  3. recent developments in technologies
  4. market developments
  5. developments in regulatory practices world wide
  6. And finally the regulator is guided by the policies of the government. In the case of Hong Kong the overall policy objectives are set out as follows:

    • That the widest range of quality telecommunications services should be available to the community at reasonable cost;
    • That telecommunications services should be provided in the most economically efficient manner possible; and
    • That Hong Kong should serve as the pre-eminent communications hub for the region.

This means the regulator’s job extends far beyond the purely technical and engineering skills required for spectrum management.

The regulator must be able to relate all the policy issues mentioned above to the job of spectrum management, for example, in the case of Hong Kong the emphasis is upon making and keeping the economy as open and competitive as possible. This means a minimum level of regulation wherever possible, and a technology-neutral approach to the equipment standards adopted by licensed operators.

Insofar as equipment is used for purely private purposes, licensing is either not required in Hong Kong, or it is simplified to reduce the time it takes to obtain a licence, the documentation required to obtain a licence, and the cost of obtaining a licence.

The costs of licensing are covered in Part 6 where it is shown that licence fees, while very light, generate sufficient income to make OFTA self-funding and financially independent of the Treasury. By creating a wide funding base across the industry, OFTA is also seen and widely regarded as being independent of any industry influences, an important consideration if the regulator is to command the respect and trust of all the parties involved.

Spectrum Planning

OFTA employs around 120 staff in spectrum management, out of a total of 300 staff, such is the importance of spectrum planning, frequency allocation, assignment and licensing in the regulator’s work.

Logically, the first job of the regulator is to draw up a national spectrum plan based upon the ITU’s regional allocations.

The national plans are usually far more detailed than the ITU’s because there will be many different types of service under each major radio service heading. For example, there are many mobile services, both private and public, everything ranging from car security locking devices, to shared trunked radio systems used by transportation companies, to public service cellular mobile systems.

A second reason is that many frequency bands are allocated to different radio services which share the bands, some of which are given primary status and other secondary status.

In each Member State the sharing arrangements can differ, and as long as the national frequency allocations do not interfere with the allocations of other Member States, variations will reflect the local demand for and supply of spectrum.

Hong Kong’s Table of Frequency Allocations is published by the Office of the Telecommunications Authority and available on the OFTA website. The Table of Frequency Allocations details in one column the ITU’s Radio Regulations spectrum allocations for Region 3, and in the adjoining column Hong Kong’s allocations, and in a third column a detailed breakdown of actual frequency utilization. A summary chart is provided as an appendix to this Part.

The procedure OFTA adopts in spectrum management is as follows (see also diagram below):

  1. Spectrum planning and allocation, following the guidelines of the ITU’s Radio Regulations, but with local variation. (See above).
  2. Assignment and licensing of frequencies to users for different radio services.
  3. Regulation and rule-making to take into account changing circumstances and emerging international recommendations and guidelines.
  4. Frequency coordination with adjacent administrations, for example mobile systems with Guangdong province, or satellite networks with Philippines.
  5. Spectrum engineering, where OFTA uses a computer-run mathematical model of radio propagation patterns in Hong Kong to compute electromagnetic emissions and the likelihood of interference or health and safety hazards.
  6. Database of existing frequency utilization records for the computer-run model.
  7. Monitoring system, run by the Radio Monitoring Unit (RMU) to detect the illegal or wrongful use of frequencies or equipment.
  8. Enforcement of regulations and licence conditions, principally to stop interference from the wrongful or illegal use of frequencies or equipment.
Spectrum Management

Procedures and Consultation for Frequency Assignment

Frequency assignments logically follow on from the allocation of spectrum bands to radio services, but the devil is always in the detail.

In Hong Kong’s case several critical challenges arise. Hong Kong is a small, densely populated and mostly urban area with large clusters of high rise commercial and residential buildings, and a hilly terrain. Line-of-sight radio communications are therefore difficult to come by, and new building development can easily obstruct what was previously an open view.

Because of the relative shortage of land, property prices are inevitably high and so are commercial rates for suitable base station and cell sites. Sites tend to become very crowded unless a sharing arrangement can be worked out, and this sometimes requires regulatory involvement. A sub-tropical climate, with heavy monsoons and occasional typhoons adds to the challenges, making radio propagation at the higher frequencies unreliable.

Hong Kong is also the principal gateway to mainland China for air, sea and land freight and passenger traffic, so there is enormous demand for private mobile radio systems from the transportation sector.

Further, in Hong Kong’s highly competitive public telecommunications sector there are already eleven second generation (2G) mobile networks, and several third generation (3G) networks to come. In addition, the broadcasting market has been liberalized and BSS frequencies have been allocated. OFTA has encouraged many fixed services to move away from RF and into cables and fibre, thereby freeing up frequencies for new assignment.

Consultation and Advisory Committees

OFTA therefore has to engage in at least two broad types of consultation with the industry.

First, general advice on how best to allocate frequencies between radio services which share the same bands of spectrum, and ancillary advice on equipment standards, power levels, sharing of sites, deployment of antenna, health and safety measures, and so forth. For this purpose OFTA has two Advisory Committees, the Radio Spectrum Advisory Committee and the Telecommunications Standards Advisory Committee.

Second, OFTA has direct consultation with potential users over their applications for a licence and the frequency of the channels that are to be assigned to them.

For the most part, these procedures are completely standard and administrative. They involve, for example, a search of the database for current frequency utilization and the alternative spare frequency channels.

Until the early 1980s, when demand was still not so great, the regulator, at that time the Postmaster General of the Hong Kong Post Office department, assigned frequencies more or less on a first-come-first-served basis. If spectrum was available, it was assigned. This policy was inadequate to cope with the explosion in demand for radiocommunications, especially for mobile communications from the mid-1980s, and so the current modern methods of spectrum management were introduced.

Exemption Order, Type Approval, and Enforcement

There are numerous devices that produce low levels of electromagnetic emissions, such as security and alarm systems, cordless telephones, industrial and scientific equipment, which do not represent any serious danger of radio interference or health and safety hazard as long as they conform to approved standards of design, power, frequency usage, and so on.

Equipment meeting internationally recognized and approved standards for such devices are included by OFTA in the Exemption Order that permits their unlicensed use in Hong Kong within specified bands of spectrum. For example, on the advice of the newly formed Radio Spectrum Advisory Committee (RSAC) in October 1995 OFTA amended the Exemption Order to include wireless microphones and certain spread spectrum devices.

Two difficulties arise in Hong Kong. First, the use of low-energy devices which do not conform to local regulations, for example cordless phones operating at 800 MHz rather than 1.7MHz or 47 MHz. Second, the illegal use of private mobile radio transmitters and receivers, a problem that is exacerbated by the very large number of transportation vehicles passing through Hong Kong to and from mainland China.

The first of these problems arises because it is not possible to require overseas equipment suppliers to manufacturer to Hong Kong’s specifications, nor to prevent people buying from overseas and bringing these devices back to Hong Kong. Banning such devices and prosecuting users would be a harsh reaction in cases where the potential for interference was very low, yet OFTA cannot allow such devices to be used by placing them on the Exemption Order because they can cause interference in some situations.

Where the potential for interference is greater, for example, the use of a wireless LAN high power transmitter, a way forward under consideration is to apply more rigorous type approval requirements. OFTA follows the recommendations of the CISRP, an international commission tasked with regulating radio interference.

CISRP CISPR issues guidelines for any device that emits electromagnetic signals, such as an internal combustion engine of an automobile, and OFTA uses these guidelines, but does not necessarily ban a device that fails to conform. OFTA’s criteria are: (a) does the equipment cause interference, and (b) does it exceed CISRP CISPR’s radiation limits?

  1. Type Approval

    A type approval process can become a significant cost factor facing equipment importers and network operators wishing to adopt a new technology. Various bodies, such as the Regional ITU and the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity, both based in Bangkok, have worked hard to simplify and streamline the procedures adopted by various administrations, and APEC has responded with the Mutual Recognition Agreement to which Hong Kong is a signatory.

    Under the MRA signatories agree to accept type approval granted by any one APEC member, thereby cutting down on the need for an equipment supplier or importer to seek type approval for the same equipment from every administration in turn.

    OFTA has two procedures for type approval, one a documentary procedure, and the other involving laboratory testing. OFTA recently introduced a flat-rate fee system for type approval requests. (See TSAC paper 15/98). OFTA also recognizes all type approvals given by member states of the European Union and North America, however, because Japanese frequency allocations are significantly different from those in Hong Kong some types of Japanese equipment are not approved for use in Hong Kong.
  2. Radio Monitoring Unit

    In the second case, the case of the illegal use of private mobile radio stations, the problems of interference can be serious. For example even the police were forced to move their frequencies to obtain clean channels, and prosecutions in a magistrate’s court do take place, although the maximum fine of HK$50,000 is rarely used.

    The difficulties tracking down the users of illegal private mobile radio phones are obvious. One way is to set up roadblocks, which is done maybe ten times a month. OFTA employs around 60 staff in a Radio Monitoring Unit (RMU) who work closely with the police by day and by night, but too many roadblocks would cause disruption to traffic so this tactic is limited.

    The RMU is divided into six outdoor teams, each with their own vehicle and direction finding equipment, and indoor staff who monitor feedback from monitoring equipment located in the hill stations around Hong Kong. The indoor staff try to detect possible illegal or improper use6, and the outdoor teams then try to locate the users.

    The authority of OFTA to carry out this surveillance, to seize equipment, and to enter premises with a warrant from the judiciary, derive from the Telecommunications Ordinance, 2000. Previously these powers were only spelt out in the conditions attached to each licence, so the legal basis for OFTA’s powers has been strengthened through the legislature and made more transparent.

    Under the Telecommunications Ordinance, only the decisions of the Telecommunications Authority (TA) concerning anti-competitive behaviour may be appealed at the Telecommunications (Competitive Provisions) Appeal Board, but for all other issues there is recourse to judicial review based upon Common Law precedents.

    Monitoring is a very important aspect of spectrum management enforcement because without it the database used for frequency allocations and assignments becomes useless. At the heart of the system is a computer that works off the database and can give instant readouts of the licences issued and the frequencies assigned. (See Part 5).

Cross-Border Coordination

Eliminating cross-border interference of radio waves is the primary commitment of signatories to the ITU in the area of spectrum management.

On 1st July 1997 Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China when sovereignty reverted from Britain to China, but under the agreement of the Joint Liasion Group (JLG) Hong Kong retains direct representation at the meetings of the ITU as a member of China’s delegation.

As a Special Administrative Region of China, cooperation and coordination between Hong Kong and the neighbouring province of Guangdong to the north remains important for interference-free broadcasting, aeronautical and marine navigation, and the use of cellular mobile phones, private mobile radio equipment, and pagers.

Frequency Coordination

A Frequency Coordination Agreement was originally endorsed in 1992 by OFTA and the Office of Guangdong Wireless Management Committee. As stated by OFTA in a press release on 6 November 2000 announcing the signature of a new frequency coordination agreement between the HKSAR Government and Guangdong province:

It covered land mobile, fixed and broadcasting services for frequencies below 1GHz. The Agreement laid down the procedures and standards for the coordination of the use of frequencies to avoid mutual harmful interference. Although the 1992 Agreement expired on 30 June 1997, both sides have agreed to extend the validity period of the Agreement to beyond 1 July 1997 to give more time to work on a new frequency coordination agreement.

The new Frequency Coordination Agreement signed in Shenzhen today covers the procedures and standards for coordinating terrestrial radiocommunication services including land mobile, fixed, maritime and broadcasting services in the frequency band from 30 MHz to 40 GHz. The Agreement also includes new procedures for handling cases of radio interference and a mechanism for both parties to meet annually to revise the content of the Agreement in light of changes in technologies and demand of the telecommunications industry.

The 1992 Agreement divided spectrum into three categories: “Hong Kong priority”, “Guangdong priority” and “shared-use” blocks, where the “shared-use” block was divided on a first-come-first-serve basis.For example, the 400 MHz spectrum was used by government users police on both sides of the border.

Where interference arises in areas such as mobile cellular or broadcasting, each side will agree to reduce the power of transmission or tilt the antenna close to the border. For the most part these details are worked out by phone calls or facsimile, with face-to-face meetings only where more complex issues are involved.

The new 2000 Agreement which has extended the range of the 1992 Agreement, has instituted an opportunity for an annual review, and has recognised that new technologies, for example third generation (3G) mobile telecommunications, will create new demand for spectrum allocation and frequency assignments in the future.

Satellite

The other major area calling for coordination is satellites. If a Hong Kong based company, or a neighbouring economy plans to launch new satellites, then the issue of positioning often requires negotiation. For example, during 1999-2000 satellite coordination meetings were held with India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Issues can involve nudging the orbital position a few degrees, or splitting frequencies, or lowering the power of the satellite.

Negotiations may also be necessary with the UK which, for historical reasons, shares orbital slots with Hong Kong. AsiaSat has satellites in these slots.

In October 1998 Hong Kong also took over the coordination for the five orbital assignments for the APT Satellite Company from mainland China’s Ministry of Information Industries (MII).

OFTA monitors the Telemetry, Tracking, Control and Monitoring (TTC&M) of all these satellites.