News
Defence Ministry provides suitable spectrum to Ericsson, Qualcomm, and SON specialist RED Technologies.
France this week launched a licensed shared access (LSA) pilot using spectrum belonging to the Ministry of Defence.
With LSA, an operator is permitted to use frequencies already held by another entity, be it another operator, or in this case a government ministry, at a time or in a place where the incumbent spectrum holder isn’t using them.
For the pilot launched in France on Wednesday, telco regulator Arcep and the Ministry of Defence approved the use of spectrum in the 2.3-GHz-2.4-GHz band currently held by the latter.
"This initiative touches the core of the French telecoms industry and has the potential to considerably enhance the consumer mobile experience in France as well as generate significant economic return," said Axelle Lemaire, France’s minister for digital affairs, in a statement.
Indeed, according to Plum Consulting, Europe could reap a €12 billion economic benefit from allocating the 2.3-GHz band for mobile broadband and permitting LSA.
The pilot in France is being conducted using radio access technology from Ericsson. Self-organising network (SON) specialist RED Technologies is providing its dynamic spectrum management platform, while Qualcomm is providing devices.
"This collaboration will maintain French leadership in LSA. RED Technologies is proud to enable this and sees the pilot as an opportunity to keep on innovating in dynamic spectrum management," Michael Abitbol, managing director of RED Technologies.
Thomas Noren, head of radio product management at Ericsson, said technology such as LSA is key to freeing up enough spectrum to support 5G networks. "LSA is an agile technology approach to boost capacity," he said.
"Spectrum availability is a core condition for flourishing technology adoption and innovation. This LSA pilot is therefore a vital step towards the realisation of Europe’s Digital Single Market," added Wassim Chourbaji, vice president of government affairs at Qualcomm.
RED said the success of the LSA pilot should lead to the release of high volumes of licensed spectrum in France within the next 24 months.
