The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum

1. Richard Thanki – ICSS, University of Southampton The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum

2. Introduction Me ICSS Microsoft • 2009 and 2012 studies • former Ofcom economist and principal advisor to the Independent Spectrum Broker • current PhD researcher • £12m institute at the University of Southampton • focused on complex adaptive systems, such as genetics, climate scienceand economics • Important financial and technical assistance for the completion of the 2009 and 2012 studies The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

3. The success of licence-exemption The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

4. The success of licence-exemption The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

5. Connecting all the people The role of licence-exempt spectrum in delivering access to broadband internet The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

6. The shape of smartphone traffic The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

7. The shape of smartphone traffic The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

8. The shape of smartphone traffic The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

9. The shape of smartphone traffic The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

10. Additional costs of mobile, absent Wi-Fi • 140,000 to 450,000 extra sites required immediately • (an additional 8 – 20% sites worldwide) • At a cost of $30 - $90 billion (very conservative) • A minimum of 9,000-18,000 in the UK • The number would escalate quickly in the coming years The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

11. The global digital divide, and the role of white space spectrum • Broadband remains unaffordable and unavailable for the majority • Many countries have invested in fibre backbones • But all existing models are too expensive without a dense population or large subsidies The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

12. The global digital divide, and the role of white space spectrum • The only model that has proven commercially viable in rural areas is that of WISPs • Area coverage limited by high frequency licence-exempt spectrum • TV White Spaces could supercharge the WISP model • potentially bring high quality broadband to hundreds of millions of unconnected people for a fraction of the cost of mobile technologies The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

13. Connecting everything else The role of licence-exempt spectrum in enabling machine-to-machine connectivity and the internet of things The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

14. The human internet The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

15. The human internet The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

16. The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

17. The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

18. The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

19. The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

20. The machine internet The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

21. The machine internet The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

22. Connected examples The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

23. Economic value possibilities from the IoT Even if each new machine connection generates only one-hundredth of the value of one of today’s human connections, the economic value generated by the internet by 2020 would be $1.4 to $2.2 trillion per year – around five times the value generated by the internet today. The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

24. The role of licence-exempt spectrum in the IoT • Licence-exempt connections will dominate the internet of things • Technical considerations • Latency/network control • Battery life and energy usage • Options – Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee etc… • Cost considerations • Substantially cheaper chipsets • No ongoing subscription fees The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

25. The role of white space spectrum in enabling the IoT • White spaces can deliver: • broadband speeds • excellent obstacle penetration • low power usage • Europe has no broadband-suitable licence-exempt spectrum below 1GHz • Hindering smart grid deployment (in the UK up to 1/5 of home meters are beyond the reach of mobile networks) • Licence-exempt technologies dominate smart grid in US where suitable spectrum is available The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

26. Resilience and adaptability How networks built using licence-exempt spectrum help to reduce the fragility of telecommunication networks The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

27. Examples of natural and human resilient and adaptable systems Robust human and natural systems The Importance of Licence-Exempt Spectrum

28. Creating diverse architectures The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki

29. The role of white space spectrum • In emergencies telecommunications networks often fail • specialised personnel or equipment may not be available • licence-exempt equipment can be repurposed easily. • Value of Wi-Fi seen in response to Japanese Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti earthquake, etc. • Often the first networks to go back up • FON made 500,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in Japan open access • The range and penetration of white spaces is ideal for this purpose, especially if there is rubble and structural damage • Japan is investigating the use of white space technology specifically for this purpose The Economic Impact of Licence-Exempt Spectrum - Richard Thanki