Global debates on Access have moved from just Infrastructure based arguments to issues of policy, regulation and rights. Undersea cables have arrived in under-served coastal areas; mobile phone proliferations have characterized the landscape where previously copper cables have been inexistent. Tele-densities have increased and will continue to do so.

Even with these advancements in infrastructure, there remains certain challenges; landlocked countries still struggle to access coastal cable infrastructure; broadband remains a major challenge; the rights to landing stations continues to pose problems to cable companies; the cost of making mobile phone calls and of sending SMS messages still result in approximately 50% disposable income expenditure of the average African or better put, a sizable fraction of a day’s wage to the Rwandan farmer.

The difference between the current state of access and a future progressive ‘opportunity for all’ state remains with three critical and strategic moves; policy, regulation and rights.

Appropriate steps taken to handle policy, regulation and rights will determine how and what progress will be made in the coming years. The access debate has moved from infrastructure to these issues.

These policy, regulation and rights issues touch on several things but I will focus on Spectrum, which I believe is the life blood of making infrastructure more accessible to the under-served and unreached.

And until these issues are handled appropriately and effectively within the spectrum space, we will not have efficient, effective and optimal use of these infrastructure.

We must begin to see Spectrum and its management as a major, and fundamental component of Access.

So, I will talk about Spectrum from 3 major perspectives:

1.Reclaiming unused spectrum space:
2.Effectively leveraging the benefits of digital dividends
3.Specific advocacy and policy recommendations

Reclaiming Unused Space: Managing Spillovers and Guardbands
Spillovers are out of band emissions that happen within a defined frequency range. Spillovers are what happens when you cross one border in country A into another, country B. and the FM receiver on your car radio automatically switches to the new station in country B with some radio interference. Spillovers are managed by regulators in neighboring countries or regions. Perhaps we could allow spillovers to happen for certain frequency bands and then define appropriate policies to manage them across borders or regions. This will force innovation in effective policy on cross border spectrum management.

Guardbands on the other hand are spectrum space designated between usable bands so that out of band power leakage would not impinge on nearby signals. Guardbands were regulatory measures introduced to accommodate inefficient technologies that characterized devices in the immediate past. These transmitting and receiving devices have themselves become smarter requiring that the provisions for Guardbands are to be revised to reclaim these spectrum spaces.

These reclaimed spaces should be effectively managed by policies that include regional spectrum regimes or such as support spectrum harmonization across regions.

Digital Dividends
The benefits of Digital Migration is digital dividend and stakeholders have claimed that it will lead to more available spectrum spaces. Further, through innovation in compression, these spaces will be optimized resulting in more available spaces.

Effective technologies such as Agile or Software Defined Radio will encourage further innovation and better and efficient utilization of these available spectrum. The bottom line is, that there will be more spaces available for more applications. But this can only be true if and only when specific measures have been taken to effectively and collaboratively plan the potential spaces that will result from Digital Migration or Switch over. Ultimately, the spectrum management mechanisms and methodologies, policies and regulations of the past, may not be sufficient for this future spaces. New mechanisms are required as the factors have changed somewhat. A specific case of pouring new wine into new wine skins.

So, What proposals do I have?

That these issues of policies on access, ie. Spectrum and infrastructure, should be looked at:

1.As a Rights based Issue: Access to spectrum should and must be couched under themes such as Access to Information or even Freedom of Expression. How can these happen? Certain policy measures on cross border spectrum needs to address public good, rural development and under-served areas. Moreso as reclaimed spectrum bands can and should be reserved and specifically targeted to address broadband deployment of under-served areas, for instance.
2.As a Social Responsibility Issue: Social responsibility of current spectrum administrators or regimes to their citizens requiring that provisions are made to incentivise service providers who will utilize these reclaimed and available spaces spaces for broadband rural connectivity.