2006 to be a critical year for US license holders as their licenses are set to expire in 2007

2006 will be a critical year for WCS license holders as their licenses are set to expire in 2007 according to our latest report: "BRS, EBS and WCS Regulatory and Licensing Analysis". This report provides an in-depth review of the technical and licensing rules applying for EBS, BRS and WCS bands in the USA.

"The fifteen WCS License holders are getting ready for a significant push in 2006/7 as most of the WCS licenses were granted in 1997 and are due to expire in 2007. RFPs activity has increased significantly in 2005 from those license holders as confirmed by vendors themselves, explained Fellah. The challenge for operators is that WiMAX radios in the 2.3/2.5GHz bands will not be commercially available until at least the end of 2006"! Added Fellah.

Things are also changing in the MDS space. In fact, while MDS licensees originally paid a total of $216 millions through the initial auctions in 1996, many licenses have changed hands since that time. Now there are 367 companies using the BRS spectrum and a staggering 1,598 companies controlling the EBS spectrum, concluded Fellah. This new report provides a complete and clear listing of the current license holders.

The conclusions of the report include a ground breaking review of each of the 1980 license holders controlling the totality of EBS (Educational Broadband Service), BRS (Broadband Radio Service) and WCS (Wireless Communication Services) licenses in the USA as of November 2005. This report represents a unique spectrum availability reference tool to all BWA/WiMAX stakeholders.

 

Undergoing deployments in the 2.5 GHz

While commercial broadband wireless operations in the 2.3 GHz (WCS) band have been limited primarily to equipment trials or restricted deployments in small markets until 2005, operations have been ongoing for years in the 2.5 GHz (BRS) by the incumbent MDS and ITFS operators. These operations have been solely dedicated to video and limited data services, which were generally used for date and video programming transmission to subscribers using high-powered systems like wireless cable.

However, over the past few years the uses have changed. The key decision of the FCC to allow the Sprint/Nextel merger was accompanied by conditions that should see broadband services within reach of at least 15 million potential subscribers within six years. This in turn will trigger other BRS license holders to accelerate their deployments explained in this report.


Purchase Report