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Military/Civilian 3.5 GHz Coexistence
Or. why can't we get along? They do in Europe.
Further to my earlier thread on civilianizing the 3.5 GHz spectrum for civilian use, I see that the German government recently awarded 3.5 GHz licenses throughout Germany to cover a market of over 82 million people. The good news for WiMAX aficionados is that it went for $23 million or .07/MHz/POP, an almost unheard of figure (low cost wise) for commercial use spectrum (some 2.5 GHz spectrum is trading in the teens cents/MHz/POP (population for the given market for the given spectrum). Memo to WiMAX operators: remember, the market is global, if Tier 1 US cities are too pricey spectrum-wise, your capital and technical expertise may be better served elsewhere.
I recall the 3 years I lived in Germany (1985-1988, it was called West Germany where I lived). I was a Naval Intelligence Officer assigned to Headquarters, European Command, near Stuttgart. Any drive down a major autobahn could be an exercise in military jet spotting given all the US and other NATO nation jets practicing low-level navigation. I found it a thrill to see a US F-111 or Luftwaffe Tornado cross the autobahn directly in front of the hood of my car. Yes, they can do things like that thanks to precise radar navigation (3.5 GHz). With the passing of the Cold War, I'm sure the operational tempo has slacked off and there is no doubt that the US and other allied air forces will continue to do low level navigation exercises in Germany and elsewhere in Europe where 3.5 GHz is in use by commercial operators. Why can civilian and military uses coexist on that band in Europe but not in the US?
Did the respective militaries stop flying low-level navigation now that 3.5 GHz spectrum is in use by commercial WiMAX operators? Me thinks not. They can coexist there, why not in the US?
Memo to DoD spectrum managers: prepare to pass 3.5 GHz control over to the FCC. You can't logically defend reserving this band nation wide 7x24x365 for solely military use against the commercial demand for it.
Memo to FCC: if 3.5 GHz can't be used for unlicensed WiMAX operations, think of the cash you could gather in a 3.5 GHz FCC spectrum auction!
Frank Ohrtman
WMX Systems
