Telecom Engineering
Unmitigated Untruths about Radio Spectrum
Dt: 23/11/12
Unmitigated Untruths about Radio Spectrum
Dr T.H.Chowdary*
“You can fool all people for some time ; you can fool some people for all the time ; you cannot fool all the people for all time” is a wise saying.
2. In our country, the minister for Telecoms, the Department of Telecoms and the TRAI and some intellectuals have been asserting that radio spectrum is a limited natural resource. This is entirely untrue .
3. Natural resources like mineral ores and coal and oil and gas are limited and will be exhausted as they are exploited. They cannot be replenished. Even water can be a limited source, limited by the vagaries of rain fall and the rate at which the aquifers (underground water resources) are exploited.
4. Sunlight is a natural resource. It will be available to mankind in almost all places of earth for as long as our star, the sun is shining. We generate electricity by using solar radiation over 30trillion watts. In the night time where there is no sunlight we cannot generate electricity. What we have generated in the day time is stored in batteries and utilised in the night.
5. Radio frequency spectrum is used among others for telecom & broadcasting. It cannot be exhausted just like sunlight. Radio transmitters (whether they be for sound and picture broadcasting or for telecom) produce power for radiation at different frequencies, in different radio frequency bands. If the power radiated is very high, the signal will go far; it cannot be reused until becomes undetectable. This radiation can be generated, 24 hrs a day anywhere on
the surface of the earth and in space ( as in communication satellites). Unlike other natural resources eg. Coal or oil or iron ore, the spectrum cannot be exhausted; that is, once used it will not perish; it can be reused elsewhere. In fact, the principle underlying cellular radio telephony for mobile phones is the repeated reuse of the same spectrum cut up into slices for each conversation or data transmission or other information transport. Suppose 4.5MHZs is given to one company. It can be used to cover any amount of area . It only requires that there should be a large number of radio base stations or cell sites, each one radiating power below a certain amount so that it will be undetectable after say 500 mts or one or five kilometers. We can leave the same radio frequency reused after leaving some distance. This is the principle used by the telephone companies.
6. As a person moves from one place to another, computers in the network without the knowledge of the person, go on allocating a different slice within the allotted spectrum to the mobile person.
7. It should now be possible to understand that a given amount of spectrum to a company can be used again and again and huge number of subscribers can be supported provided the company is prepared to built many more radio base stations at increasingly closer intervals. This would mean more capital and operating expenditure. This would also require that local authorities do not put undue restrictions on the location of cell sites with towers for supporting the antennas for radiation and reception of radio signals.
8. Sunlight is utilised to produce electricity, no government in the world is auctioning the light spectrum of the Sun. The solar power generating companies are selling electricity. Governments are buying this electricity to be put into the national or states grid. In other words, it is the product of the solar light spectrum that is priced and sold. I argue that in the same manner, it is not the radio spectrum into which the cell companies are putting power to communicate that should be sold though auction or otherwise. On the other hand, it is the product of this radio spectrum that is, telephone conversations data transmission etc. that are sold by companies that maybe taxed. And the best way of doing this to do this is to take a share of the revenue that telephone companies are getting by sale of the products .
9. Since more than one company will be operating in the same area in a competitive mode, the spectrum bands that are be given to each company will have to be different. It is this function which can be performed by the administrator of the radio spectrum, the DOT or the TRAI.
10. The Government by auctioning the spectrum and various authorities telling the people that spectrum is a rare and limited resource are misinforming and misleading the public. The government is motivated more by greed to get money to cover up its huge spending on give aways for vote -catching rather than making telecoms more affordable to ever larger number of people. (792 words)