Proposal for 56 Mhz channels in fixed service bands

Summary

On 19 August 2011 the Ministry published a ‘Proposal for 56 MHz channel spacing in fixed service bands’ to facilitate higher capacity Digital Microwave Radio (DMR) services, allowing faster backhaul and data speeds. This was done ahead of the upcoming fixed service review to satisfy current industry demand. V, U, X and 38 GHz were identified as candidate bands.

The Ministry received five submissions on the ‘Proposal for 56 MHz channel spacing in fixed service bands’. Three submissions supported the proposal, One submission supported the idea but considered other issues needed resolving first. One submission opposed the proposal. Some of the issues raised were:

• Spectral efficiency;
• congestion in R band and revocation of unused licences;
• channel plan alignment issues with U band; and
• potential interference to Ku band Satellite services from the lowest X band 56 MHz channel
   

Read the summary of submissions

Read the submissions

Outcomes

Based on the general support for the proposal, 56 MHz channelling is now available in the V, U, X and 38GHz bands. Some minor adjustments have been made to the proposal based on the feedback. The outcomes are the following:

• creation of three 28 MHz and one 56 MHz channels in V band;
• creation of new 56 and 28 MHz U band channels that line up with the main part of the ITU-R Rec SM.385. Maintain the current 7 MHz and 28 MHz channel plans;
• creation of 56 MHz channels for X band except the bottom channel due to potential interference from out of band emissions from an adjacent 56MHz channel into Ku band. Consider conducting further studies and include them in the fixed service review;
• creation of 20 56 MHz channels in the 38 GHz band; and
• defined a minimum spectral efficiency design requirement of 4 bits per hertz per second for the new 56 MHz channels.

Implementation

Licences may now be granted for 56 MHz channel fixed licences. The changes have been implemented with new channels up loaded into SMART. Fixed Service Bands in New Zealand (PIB 22) and the Radio Licence Certification Rules (PIB 38) have been updated.