Would 3.65 be considered licensed or unlicensed with respect to this sort of discussion? On Sep 1, 2011 1:09 PM, "Kevin Sullivan" <[email protected]> wrote: > Fred, > That's some really interesting a valuable information that you have on (un)available PtMP spectrum. Any chance you could check out Corvallis, Oregon area and let me know who I would have to talk to? > > Thanks! > Kevin > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Fred Goldstein > To: WISPA General List > Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2011 1:19 PM > Subject: Re: [WISPA] Licensed PTMP > > > Just to add to what Tom said below, there aren't a lot of licensed PtMP frequencies. The 2.5 GHz band (BRS/EBS, f/k/a MMDS/ITFS) is largely controlled now by Clear. They accumulated a lot of licenses (Nextel had bought many years ago) and leased a lot of the leasable spectrum from educational licensees. The general rule has been that an educational licensee could lease out 3/4 of its spectrum, leaving them roughly a TV channel's worth for their own use. > > The old educational licenses were largely intended for broadcast-type use in a 35-mile radius, though they are allowable for 2-way use too. MMDS were mostly geographic-area (BTA) licenses. The "swiss cheese" between the EBS radii was to be auctioned, though I don't know if it actually was. Auctions maximize scarcity, allowing Clearwire, basically, to shut off the air supply (hmmm, double meaning here) to everyone else. > > A few years ago, I downloaded the FCC's ITFS/MMDS database and mapped it. This would tell me what the ITFS/BRS radius licenses were near. Looking at Galax, there are none nearby; the nearest licensees are in Winston-Salem, Johnson City and Roanoke. NTELOS has about 13 channels' worth of BRS, though, in BTA 367, pretty much the whole run, which looks like an old "wireless cable" play. > > Another licensed band is WCS at 2.3 GHz. This has some issues with nearby satellite broadcasting, but might be usable. Again, it was all auctioned off (for a song) in 1997 and largely purchased later by NextWave (not the original, bankrupt one but the same owners' later company). So they might rent it out. But in your case, AT&T owns the WCS licenses, with Horizon Data leasing 10 MHz too. So again availability is probably nil. > > Hence if someone asks the cost of a licensed PtMP, you might ask them if they want to take Clear off of its owners' hands, since that's probably the only way to get one. > > At 8/30/2011 02:35 PM, Tom DeReggi wrote: > > The answer to your questions does not have a generic answer. > If your area is highly rural, there might be options. But to find out, you'd likely have to spend some money to get a spectrum search done to find it, if it exists. > Licensed PtMP spectrum is not accessible to most, in most areas, as you stated, it takes Billions at auction. > But there someimes is the option to sub-lease spectrum from spectrum licensees, if they have not already leased it out. > EBS is one example, often owned by local school systems previously. Some spectrum ranges were sold in small geograpghical blocks, so leaving it unused in some small rural towns. Most cell carriers already found the vacant spectrum and leased it, like much of the 2.5Ghz spectrum used by Sprint/Clearwire. > > One way to find it is to go to FCC website, and do a geosearch for spectrum owners within a radius of your area. Then manually call them all, to ask if they are using it, and would be interested in sub-leasing it if not. That can be a tedius process for someone not familiar with it all. > > There are only two resources I know of to refer you to. > > 1) I belive WISPA's attorney, Steve Coran, has helped some companies find licensed spectrum. > 2) I believe SpectrumBridge databases unused spectrum, and helps prospective leasee find leasors. > > > We're in Carroll and Grayson Counties in SW VA. I just can't see a business case for investing in licensed wireless for 21k houses in 900 sq miles > > Not necessarilly. You'd never be able to serve 21K homes with unlicensed. Often spectrum owners buy national licenses because they want to cheey pick the prime markets, and might not have built out the most rural markets, and never plan to. Thus there is a model for the spectrum to be sub-let to a partner that will buildout the rural network, and actually has an interest to. Most WISPs cant afforf licensed spectrum because they start out serving 200 homes within 21k, not 21k homes. > Buying small area licensing actually helps buying licenses more affordably because it allows a smaller dollar sale, more within the realm of what a small provider could secure financially. Often spectrum is valued by an equivellent method, such as # of homes served, thus a small area license would cost the same as a large area license from a "per person" cost. > > With that said, I have no idea what kind of spectrum might or might not be available in your area. > > -- > Fred Goldstein k1io fgoldstein "at" ionary.com > ionary Consulting http://www.ionary.com/ > +1 617 795 2701 > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > WISPA Wants You! 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