Wi-Fi in TV Spectrum Close to Finding Mass Market Appeal, Dynamic Spectrum Alliance Head Says

Nwana told us he would prefer that industry and the government stop referring to the frequencies as TV white spaces and start thinking about them as Wi-Fi in the TV bands. “That’s what it’s all about,” he said. Consumers don’t even need to know that the device uses 600 MHz spectrum in addition to the usual Wi-Fi bands, he said. Coordinating the device with the TV white spaces database will be automatic and won’t require any action by consumers, he predicted.

The biggest sticking point is that only one chipmaker, MediaTek, the world’s third-largest, is making white spaces chipsets, Nwana said. But other chipsets makers also are looking at the opportunities. At least two, and preferably three, will need to make chipsets so the Wi-Fi Alliance can start certifying that the chips are interoperable, he said. Only MediaTek has signed up for the interoperability “PlugFest,” he said. “We need to get Broadcom, and other companies as well, to sign up for this PlugFest … for this interoperability testing and that’s one of the things that’s slowing things down.” Broadcom and MediaTek are both DSA members.

“Ninety percent of the spectrum is not being used in 90 percent of places 90 percent of the time,” Nwana said. “In any other industry you call that inefficient and nonproductive and you try to do something about it.” While he was at Ofcom, the agency identified the TV band as the most important one to look at for broadband “to show that we meant business,” Nwana said. “There’s no better way than if you take on the broadcasters. The broadcasters have got the airwaves. They can take you to task.”

Ofcom wanted to show that the band was not being used efficiently, despite its superior propagation characteristics, and that the agency could “take on the big boys,” Nwana said. “That’s why people like the FCC and Ofcom are doing dynamic spectrum in the band first,” he said. “It was a statement of intent.” Nwana said Ofcom also wanted to show that dynamic spectrum access should be the “norm” rather than the “exception,” he said.

Nwana credits the U.S. for driving use of the TV white spaces for broadband: “The U.S. has been a leader in the market. ... I give a lot of credit to the U.S. I personally drew up the rules in the U.K. The U.S. went early in 2012. Frankly the rules that the U.S. adopted were quite challenging rules for manufacturers to manufacture to.” Even though the U.S. is large, the nation needs to remember that companies don’t want to produce products just for the U.S. market, he said. “What if the Europeans do something else?” he asked. “What if the Asians do something else?”

It took 10-15 years for Wi-Fi to develop and it is unrealistic to think that the TV white spaces market would build in a matter of just a few years, Nwana said. Manufacturers also were waiting for Ofcom rules to move, especially since the FCC approved relatively simple “blanket” rules, he said. The revised Part 15 rules approved by the FCC last week (see 1508060025) incorporate changes that came as the U.S. learned lessons from the experiences of other countries, he said. “That was the U.S. now learning because they went far too early,” he said.

The systems for protecting broadcasters through dynamic access are improving, Nwana said, saying he's a big Formula One racing fan. “Were the Formula One cars as safe back in 1950 as they were in 2015?” he asked. “Of course there have been significant improvements over the past 60 years. … This is the journey of dynamic spectrum access. You’re not going to get there right from Day One.” The NAB in particular has flagged problems with the white spaces database, through recently reached an agreement with white spaces companies to address flaws (see 1507170062).