Gold or Fool’s Gold
“Fool’s gold” is a common nickname for pyrite, a mineral that closely resembles gold but is virtually worthless. Pyrite has a fascinating history due to its mistaken identity with real gold. In the wireless communications industry, spectrum can be compared to gold — its value varies greatly depending on various factors.
Spectrum is the real estate of the wireless communications industry, with the value of a particular spectrum depending on its location. Valuable spectrums traditionally cost more in spectrum auctions. For example, in the 2000s, the largest spectrum auction for the 700 MHz spectrum in the US earned the federal government about $19.6 billion. Since 2014, the FCC has auctioned spectrum in multiple bands between 600 MHz and 4 GHz, generating $150 billion.
The alternative to the licensed spectrum is the unlicensed spectrum, which as the name suggests is to be used like a public park: everyone is welcome, but there are certain rules that need to be followed.
The spectrum I have been working on during the last few years is also classified as an unlicensed spectrum: the TV whitespace spectrum (TVWS). TV whitespaces are unused TV channels that are available under FCC rules as unlicensed. The TVWS rules set the foundation for shared or lightly licensed spectrum. The TVWS rules are now in place in about 25 countries that allow the use of TVWS spectrum as an unlicensed or shared spectrum. In our view, the TVWS spectrum is GOLD. In real-estate terms, it’s like Central Park on the first warm spring day i.e., free to use, crowded and messy.
WiFrost is a 5G for rural broadband company. WiFrost has developed the first and only 4G LTE fixed wireless system that utilizes the TV whitespace spectrum, delivering 100/20 Mbps speeds. We are developing our gigabit solution using 5G technology that will be able to deliver 1200/300 Mbps speeds, using TV whitespace and CBRS (3.5GHz) spectrum.
Our focus with this product is on four main aspects that are essential for any solution to scale in hard to reach rural areas:
- Non-LOS properties: TV whitespace spectrum performance in Non-LOS scenarios is 3x that of 3.5GHz and 5GHz products in the market.
- Affordability: WiFrost’s current product is low cost with an ROI of 8 months for our customers.
- Reliability: We are using proven 4G and 5G chipsets by US companies like Marvel and Qualcomm to build our products
- Ease of Use: Our solution is fully plug and play, with zero configuration requirement. All device and network management functions are cloud based.
To address the challenges faced by the TVWS ecosystem, we at WiFrost have developed a 4G LTE-based product that utilizes the TVWS spectrum. This has helped us address the challenge of chipset availability, as we worked with a leading 4G and 5G chipset vendors to develop an end-user device chipset that covers the TVWS band. We also developed base station equipment using a standard 4G LTE baseband processor along with interference mitigation to work in the toughest unlicensed spectrum. This standards based approach helps bring the cost of the equipment down. It also puts us in the 3GPP roadmap to develop a 5G solution, as the cost to build the 5G systems come down.
We are optimistic about the TVWS spectrum in general and the shared spectrum opportunities in particular, as a key to enabling spectrum for rural broadband connectivity and industry 4.0 use cases. Already, we are seeing organic demand from customers with the following three use cases:
- Rural broadband: Connectivity for the hardest to reach areas where terrain and forestation makes all current unlicensed fixed wireless solutions useless.
- Precision Agriculture: Autonomous tractors, robots and farm machines rely on connectivity to properly function. Active trials with five customers.
- Fixed wireless access with MNOs (mobile network operators): All operators around the world are spectrum constrained. Our 4G and 5G fixed wireless solution fits into the existing MNO core network, allowing them to save precious licensed spectrum for mobile users, while increasing revenues using reliable technology in the unlicensed spectrum. Africa and South America markets have the strongest demand for us in this market segment.
We currently have customers and deployments in 9 countries. As a company, the next stage is arguably the most important part of our business, i.e., distribution.
I will share more updates and details about each of the above mentioned use cases in individual blogs over the next few weeks. I will also share demo videos of our cloud platform and TVWS spectrum maps soon.
Feel free to reach out to me with any questions or comments.
Umair at wifrost dot com
