Use of 700-MHz frequency to increase GDP impact – GSMA

Utilizing the unused 700 megahertz (MHz) mobile frequency spectrum can potentially increase the impact of a country's gross domestic product (GDP) by tenfold, the GSM Association (GSMA) said on Thursday.

The group's Mobile Economy Asia study also found that the full use of the spectrum has the potential to create an additional 2.1 million jobs for the Asia-Pacific region by 2020.

By immediately allocating the 700 MHz band for mobile broadband use, countries in the region can take advantage of its socio-economic benefits and avoid billions of dollars worth of losses in incremental GDP growth while it remains idle, according to the group.

A megahertz is a unit of alternating current or electromagnetic wave frequency equivalent to 1,000,000 Hz, and is commonly used to express microprocessor clock speed.

At this year's World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) reinforced the findings of GSMA by globally harmonizing the 700-MHz band and allocating it to the ITU Region 1 which covers Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia.

This follows similar actions taken during the WRC-07 which drove the 700-MHz spectrum to be adopted by ITU Regions 2 and 3 or the Americas and Asia-pacific.

"The global harmonization of the 700-MHz frequency band that has been decided by WRC-15 paves the way for manufacturers and mobile operators to offer mobile broadband at an affordable price in currently underserved areas," said ITU Radiocommunication Bureau Director Francois Rancy.

The London-based GSMA is an association of nearly 800 operators and more than 250 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and Internet companies, as well as organizations in adjacent industry sectors.

Only in PHL

"The 700 MHz band in the Philippines is currently held by San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and has been largely underutilized by SMC's small subscriber base," according to Globe Telecom Inc.

"There is no country in the world where one single company owns 100 percent of any single band... only in the Philippines," Yoly Crisanto, Globe senior vice president for corporate communications said in a separate text message to GMA News Online.

"As a global practice this is distributed to all industry players similar to 2G, 3G, and 4G. Why would this spectrum be treated differently?" the Globe official noted.

"The technology of using the 700 MHz spectrum for LTE (long-term evolution) has just been introduced. It's about two to three years old only. Even then talks with the regulators have already begun but unfortunately the regulator won't budge," she added.

Both Globe and the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) recently renewed the call for the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to reallocate the frequency to address poor internet speeds in the country.

PLDT last month said the mobile frequency will help speed up the country's Internet connectivity.

"We should be given access to a very valuable frequency that will solve the speed problems of mobile telecommunications in the Philippines," PLDT Regulatory Affairs head Ray Espinosa told reporters.

The same sentiment was shared by Globe, which called on the NTC to distribute the frequency to active and operating telecommunications companies.

"Part of the solution to the clamor for faster Internet is the harmonization of the 700-MHz frequency," Globe general legal counsel Atty. Froilan Castelo earlier said. – VS, GMA News