Transcript Stage 4

Spectrum Award for FWA at 3.4 GHz

PFWACC Meeting 7 th May 2002

The Team

Radiocommunications Agency

WS Atkins Management Consultants

Schema

Professor Ian Jewitt

Denton Wilde Sapte

Presentation structure

What is on offer?

Where are we in the award process?

Licence Packaging

Award process

Payment mechanism

BIOLI

Auction details

What happens next?

What is the process about?

Award of radio spectrum licences at 3.4 GHz for Fixed Wireless Access or Radio in the Local Loop… … suitable for providing a range of broadband services; typically up to 2Mbps to the end user

Available Spectrum - new arrangement

Uplink Downlink 100 MHz Duplex 20 MHz FWA 3480 3500

CEPT Rec. 14-03 Compliant

6 MHz extra

Compatible with other EU 3580 20 MHz FWA 3600

Analysis carried out so far….

Market research

Market modelling

Technology review

Network and cost modelling

Economic value analysis

Business case valuation

Award process design

Spectrum re-alignment

…the calendar ahead

Consultation process

One-to-one presentations

Regional road-shows May / June Notice/ Regulations Information Memorandum Applications July July Sept Award Process Oct

Objectives of licence packaging design and award process

To ensure efficient and effective use of the available spectrum

To promote competition and innovation

To avoid spectrum sterilisation

To allow operators with viable business cases to bid

Principles in determination of licence regions (1)

Iterative process

Segmentation of market at post-code level

– –

Subscriber density Propensity to purchase

analysis of SMEs and consumers

Types of services

Pricing – driven by market prices

Levels of competition from other service providers ….yields potential market share for the FWA operator

Principles in determination of licence regions (2)

 

Engineering considerations:

Spectrum and Capacity

RF Performance and Range

Interference and Co-ordination

Products and Technologies Trade-off: bandwidth requirements, QoS required, customer numbers and amount of spectrum (service contention ratio)

Modelling of network deployment

Financing assumptions ….to analysis of the business case

 

NPV Sensitivity analysis

Licence packaging

UK split into 8 areas: ‘hot spots’ + contiguous ‘provincial’ areas

15 licence areas:

– –

7 “Metro” Licences

cover main metropolitan areas 7 “Provincial” Licences

cover less densely populated areas, include smaller towns

1 “combined” for Northern Ireland

Map

– – – –

Scotland

• •

Central Scotland Metro Scotland Province

North

Tyne-Tees Metro

North of England Province

North West & Yorks

Northern Metro

• –

North West, Yorks and North Wales Province Midlands

Midlands Metro

Midlands and Mid Wales Province

South West

Severnside Metro

South West and South Wales Province South

• •

South Coast Metro Southern Province South East

Greater London Metro

South East Province Northern Ireland

Subscriber Data Highlights (Metro)

Licence Households Greater London South Coast Severnside Midlands North West & Yorks Tyne-Tees Central Scotland 4,800,000 950,000 500,000 2,160,000 3,900,000 1,000,000 1,100,000 Business Sites (by employees) 1-49 50+ 351,500 65,600 38,300 136,800 16,700 2,500 1,750 6,900 Land Area (km 2 ) 70% Coverage 1,750 650 350 1,300 228,000 51,100 64,000 10,500 2,500 3,300 2,900 800 950

Sources

: PAF, Yellow Pages

Subscriber Data Highlights (Provinces)

Licence Households Land Area (km 2 ) Scotland Northern England NW, Yorks & N Wales Midlands & Mid Wales South West & S Wales Southern South East Northern Ireland 1,130,000 400,000 1,370,000 1,460,000 2,150,000 580,000 2,670,000 660,000 Business Sites (by employees) 1-49 60,300 17,500 50+ 2,000 200 63,300 87,100 30,200 24,000 89,400 43,900 1,750 2,350 950 600 2,800 2,250 70% Coverage 10,900 3,600 5,750 5,100 7,250 2,350 9,300 6,544

Sources

: PAF, Yellow Pages

The Award Process (1)

Auction 1 Simultaneous multi-round ascending

• 15 available licences • 1 licence per area auction

Auction 2 – unsold licences

‘on the table’ for 1 year

1st price sealed-bid

auction • Same reserve price as with SMRA • 30 days from initial bid

The Award Process (2)

      

15-year term Licences for provision of FWA services

to end users

wholesale provision to ISPs and Telcos

backhaul of own FWA traffic incl. that resulting from wholesale Technology neutral approach No restrictions on number of licences Full transparency on cross-ownership Staged payments BIOLI clause

Payment mechanism

Staged payments with no requirement for bankers’ guarantees

3 equal instalments over 15 years:

– – –

upon grant of licence 5 th 10 th anniversary of award anniversary of award

Option to return the licence at the end of the 5-year period, no further payments or penalties (12 months’ notice) … ‘renewable’ licence over 3 five-year periods

Why staged payments?

Lower up-front costs for operators

Option to return the licence:

– –

greater flexibility to operators “unwanted” spectrum can be reallocated

Encourage participation

BIOLI (1)

Build-It-Or-Lose-It requirement

Minimum number of base stations to be deployed by the end of year 5

Equivalent mesh technology access points

Connectivity to core network

BIOLI (2)

Metro

Greater London Midlands Northern Cent. Scotland South Coast Severnside Tyne-Tees 15 10 15 5 5 5 5 Provincial South East Midlands and Mid Wales N.West, Yorks. and North Wales Scotland Southern South West and South Wales North of England Northern Ireland 5 3 3 5 5 3 5 5

SMRA auction details (1)

Eligibility depends on activity level previous round (first round = 15)

Activity level

= Nr of licences on which current high bidder last round + Nr of licences on which bidder made valid new bid Waivers – instead of valid bid

– –

Allows bidder time to regroup 3 waivers allowed

SMRA auction details (2)

Withdrawals (of a single bid)

allows bidders to pursue and change ‘aggregation’ strategies

– – –

4 withdrawals Can withdraw current high bid Penalty equal to difference of withdrawn bid and eventual selling price (or reserve if unsold)

– –

No penalty if subsequently sold at higher price New current price set by the RA (normally at previous high bid – but RA reserves the right to adjust subsequently)

SMRA auction details (3)

Info given to bidders at each round:

Current high bid on each licence

Identity of each current high bidder

Range of admissible bids on each licence

Eligibility level (bidding credits) of all bidders

Required activity level parameter

SMRA auction details (4)

Info given to bidders (cont’d):

Details of any withdrawals

Details of any waivers

Details of any retirements from auction

Nr of withdrawals each bidder has left

Nr of waivers each bidder has left

SMRA bidding round

Start of auction round waive Proceed to next round •No loss of eligibility •With loss of 1 waiver Licences on which current high bidder not waive Licences on which NOT current high bidder hold Withdraw bid bid not bid

SMRA round (cont’d)

hold withdraw bid not bid Counts for act. level RA compares with other new bids to determine new high bid Does not count for act. level RA takes other new bid or reverts to previous high bid Pay winning bid Pay withdrawal penalty if no further higher bid No penalty if subsequent higher bid Counts for act. level RA compares with other new bids to determine new high bid Does not count for act. level RA takes other new bid or reverts to previous high bid Begin next round

Unsold Licences?

 – –  –  – –

Left on table until an application is made (1 year) Application triggers : Sale at reserve if no other interested party Simple auction for each licence (not simultaneous) if 2 or more bidders Initiator committed to bid at least reserve price Sealed bid auction (30 days) Straightforward: highest bid wins Winner pays bid

What next?

Closing date for comments 30 May 2002

Summary to be made available by 10 June

Individual presentations by the Consultants to interested operators

Regional roadshows