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Further opportunities for fixed wireless broadband

Ofcom has announced the availability of unused spectrum bands that could be used for high speed wireless networks.

The announcement follows a ten week consultation and the licenses will be available in Spring 2007.  The frequency bands are currently not in commercial use, and Ofcom’s announcement highlights the potential applications available due to technological development.

These include high capacity, point to point wireless networks, with speeds of around 1Gb to 10Gb over a 1-2km distance.  Significantly higher than current fixed wired networks built from copper, which give speeds between 1 and 24 Mbps.

Ofcom will adopt a licensing approach as it does not expect demand to exceed supply.  Licensees can buy the required number of links in the spectrum band.  Interestingly, these licenses can be sold on and license holders will be responsible for managing any interference issues between links.  The original consultation pointed out that there will be a review of the interference approach when sufficient experience has been gained to refine the approach.