When public interest so requires

(First of Two Parts)

Just how important is the 700 megahertz spectrum?

Previously allocated for the use of analog broadcast television, the 700 MHz band (698-806 MHz band), according to experts, would be put to better and more efficient use if it is reallocated for the use of mobile phone services.

Just recently, the United Nations agency for information and communication technologies (ITU) said in a statement the use of the 700 MHz frequency for mobile broadband would go a long way in addressing the digital divide.

At the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15) in Geneva last month, the ITU formally moved to allocate the 700 MHz band (694-790 MHz) for use by mobile operators globally. This decision aligned the regions of Europe, Middle East and Africa, and, central Asia with the Americas and the Asia-Pacific regions which had already adopted the APT plan.

ITU Radiocommunication Bureau director Francois Rancy said the global harmonization of the 700 MHz band “paves the way for manufacturers and mobile operators to offer mobile broadband at an affordable price in current underserved areas.”

Commenting on the identification by the ITU of additional spectrum to support next-generation mobile services, GSMA chief regulatory officer John Giusti said global harmonization of spectrum bands is key to driving the economies of scale needed to deliver low-cost, ubiquitous mobile broadband to consumers around the globe.

“The GSMA particularly commends the vision shown by many countries seeking the flexibility to use the sub-700MHz band (especially 610-694/698MHz) for mobile broadband. Not only can legacy television services in the band be delivered far more efficiently using less spectrum, but the reality is that consumer habits are evolving as video content is increasingly accessed via mobile devices. Allowing both mobile and broadcasting in the band gives these governments the ability to respond to the changing needs of their citizens,” Giusti emphasized.

The 700 MHz is considered a valuable frequency range for 4G technology as it can easily penetrate buildings and walls and has greater coverage with less investments required compared to frequencies on higher bands.

The arrival of digital broadcasting technology, with its more efficient use of radio spectrum, has made it possible to reallocate broadcast spectrum for the use of mobile phone services.

Studies have shown the economic benefits from using the 700 MHz band for mobile broadband far exceed those from broadcasting. In a 2012 report, the Boston Consulting Group and the GSM Association (GSMA) said that by 2020, the digital dividend for the Asia-Pacific region could be worth almost $1 trillion in additional GDP.

Discussions for this spectrum reallocation in the ITU, often referred to as “the digital dividend,” gained momentum in the mid-2000s as mobile data traffic grew rapidly, powered by increasingly more powerful mobile data technologies.

In October 2007, the decision to allocate the 700 MHz band to international mobile telephony (IMT) was taken by the ITU at the World Radio Conference.

A year after the ITU decision, Smart Communications filed its application for 700 MHz frequency bands.

Shortly after the ITU decision, work started on developing the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) band plan for the 700 MHz band. This band plan has been designed to enable the most efficient use of the available spectrum for high-speed mobile broadband, specifically LTE. This will also enable equipment and device manufacturers to attain economies of scale in supplying the needs of mobile networks complying with the APT plan.

The APT plan has won wide adoption in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, Australia and Pacific nations, and, Latin America. These include countries such as China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile.

In Southeast Asia, four countries – Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore – formally pledged to align with the APT Plan during the Infocomm Media Business Exchange in 2013. Also, seven out of the 10 Asean member countries have scheduled switching off analog broadcasting in preparation for the reallocation of the 700 MHz frequency. These countries are Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.

The three countries that have yet to align with the APT plan are Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines.

As a result, the 700 MHz band in the Philippines has not yet been reallocated from broadcasting use to mobile phone use.

Both the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) group which includes Smart Communications, and Globe Telecom have been pushing for the reallocation of the frequency.

In our next column, we are going to discuss why it is important to have the 700 MHz frequency reallocated for mobile broadband use and then distributed to other telco players and what our government is doing (or not doing) about this imperative need.

Magic 12

The Dec. 4-11 survey by Pulse Asia has revealed the so-called “Magic 12” or those senatorial candidates with a chance to win the 12 slots in the May 2016 elections.

Pulse Asia explained only 13 of the 89 candidates for senator who are part of this electoral probe have a statistical chance of winning, if the May 2016 elections coincided with the conduct of this survey.

Interestingly, those who made it to the list are either current or former members of Congress, except for former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

Of the 12 Senate winnables, Valenzuela City Rep. Win Gatchalian of the Nationalist Peoples Coalition (NPC) had the highest jump with a 36 percent conversion (voting for) from his previous 22 percent conversion in the September Pulse Asia survey. Gatchalian’s awareness also jumped to a high 83 percent.

Analysts believe Gatchalian’s growing popularity is due to his focus on education as key to a brighter future and better-paying jobs. As a congressman, he provided accessible education to public school students in Valenzuela City and has engaged in feeding programs for elementary public school students.

Both presidential aspirant Grace Poe and Gatchalian have filed bills that will institutionalize feeding programs in all public elementary schools to address the problem of malnutrition that affects the academic performance of public school students.

Recently, the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education approved a bill authored by Gatchalian that seeks to fully subsidize the tuition fees of all state universities and colleges (SUCs) for any undergraduate and certificate degree. The proposed measure will benefit an estimated two million students that will take up college in over 100 SUCs around the country.

He has also filed a bill that will augment the compensation of teaching and non-teaching staff in basic education from salary grade 11 to 18 and salary grade 1 to 9, respectively.

Gatchalian has taken up other causes, such as when he filed the “Proof of Parking Space Act,” bill which, if passed into law, would require buyers of brand new cars to have existing parking space in a bid to solve road congestion. He also co-authored a measure requiring registration of all prepaid SIM cards to deter crimes committed through use of mobile phones, including text scams.

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