The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) has finalized the draft of the first-ever Telecom Airwaves Spectrum Re-farming Framework.
The framework on spectrum re-farming is the first of its kind and has been prepared with recommendations from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), Frequency Allocation Board (FAB), and industry stakeholders after multiple consultations.
Federal Minister for IT & Telecommunication Syed Amin UI Haque said the draft has been uploaded on the ministry’s website for open consultation before approval of the Federal Cabinet.
He said frequency or airwaves spectrum re-farming is a process governing the repurposing of frequency bands that have historically been allocated for legacy cellular services for the new generation of mobile technologies, including emerging technologies, Internet of Things, and 5th Generation Technology for on-ground inclusion of 4th Industrial Revolution.
He added that because of the increasing demand for cellular and radio communication services worldwide, emerging technologies, spectrum re-farming is considered a powerful and innovative approach to managing the spectrum dynamically to make it available for newer commercial applications 5G, Internet of Things, broadband wireless access, and digital broadcasting.
The framework will enable the effective utilization of the available frequency spectrum for front-end and backhaul frequencies, increase potential business viability for licensees, better quality and coverage of mobile broadband services and emerging technologies including additional revenues for the national exchequer. The framework will enable operators to have a sufficient contiguous spectrum to support the simultaneous operation of multiple technologies in a frequency band.
Based on international developments, including but not limited to, technological trends, vendor reports, Telecom operators’ feedback, R&D landscape, survey reports, and most importantly the recommendations from ITU, IEEE, ETSI, 3GPP, 3GPP2, GSMA, and other standard framing bodies, PTA/PEMRA and FAB will recommend MoITT the requirement to re-farm any given frequency band for efficient utilization.
