[kictanet] Community frequencies

Wed Dec 4 20:15:27 EAT 2013

James,Listers

I have carefully read your explanation and both Open BTS and the USF are not in conflict.One is a technology,the other a fund.There is so much need that USF will not be adequate to meet all the needs.
I would wish to see one of our universities doing a feasibility of setting up the Open BTS and if feasible establish one as a campus network and use the lessons learned to roll it out to other universities or remote areas.Regulatory and policy challenges should not be cast in stone if there is compelling technological advantage.

John Kariuki

On Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 11:08, James Kulubi <jkulubi at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

Thank you for the nice diagram that shows how to provide backhaul for voice, data and internet on Open BTS.
From a policy perspective the key concerns with
community-owned Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) as correctly mentioned by
Robert will start with (a) frequencies but there are also issues of  (b) cost  (c) security.  I will try to
discuss each of them briefly below.
(a)    Frequencies: The traditional unlicensed frequencies used to serve the public in
telecommunications and broadcasting  have
been the Citizen band and the ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) Band. Citizen
band is a short-wave communication band consisting of 40 channels in the 26-28
MHz frequency range. In Kenya, the ISM band is as follows: 433.050-434.790MHz
(Subject to approval), 2.400-2.500 MHz; 5.725-5.875 GHz, 24.000-24.250 GHz. Both
citizen and ISM  bands were established
long before the major developments that have revolutionized telecommunications
leading to convergence and more recently 3G and 4G technology. In this regard, Island
BTS may use the ISM band with while conforming to other existing CCK guidelines
like transmitted power.
(b)   Cost:
Open BTS appears has very low start-up cost. In a way it appears as cheap as setting
up a PBX system in a small organization. However, a public communication system
tends to have some characteristics that are different from those of a PBX.
First, the demand for services grows rapidly after the system is installed.
This requires frequent upgrades both at the mobile-BTS (Um Interface) and at the backhaul end. Secondly the number of
customers served can radically increase for instance when there is a baraza or
market day, the population can more than double in a remote rural area. So you
require a system that can be increased dynamically and yet retain the same
functionality. Classical GSM scores higher here since cells can be added with ease
to one BTS but island systems like Open BTS may require replacing the whole system
including mobile terminals in order to just double capacity.
(c)    Security:Generally classical GSM are designed to
fit in the national security and emergency preparedness plan as follows: calls and
SMS are logged; cells can be remotely enabled or disabled; all conversations in
GSM systems are encrypted; call tracing is inbuilt, community specific
communication is possible through cell-broadcasting covering any number of
cells – just to name a few. Island systems like Open BTS will require manual
intervention by operators to, for instance, log calls. The small size of the
Open BTS systems accompanied by their ease of deployment also means that criminal
groups and enemy forces can easily set up communication systems. It is partly
because of this that the law requires each communication system entering the
county to be type-approved and frequencies to be assigned to operators and
reviewed on annual basis.

Lastly, the issue of universal access
is a problem in many countries including developed countries like USA. The
usual solution is to set up a universal service fund. The Kenya Information and
Communications Act of  2008 set up this
fund as follows:
84J. (1)There is hereby established a fund to be
known as the Universal Service Fund which shall be managed and administered by
the Commission. (2) The object and
the purpose of the Fund shall be to support widespread access to, support
capacity building and promote innovation in information and communications
technology services. (3) There shall
be a universal service levy (in this Part referred to as the “levy”) that shall
be charged by the Commission on the licensees under this Act for purposes of
the Universal Service Fund.

The objectives of the fund have
further been clarified in a CCK framework as:

a)Promote communications infrastructure
and services rollout in rural, remote and under-served areas; b) Ensure
availability of communication services to Persons with Disabilities, women and
other vulnerable groups; c) Support the development of capacity building
in ICTs and technological innovation; d) Support expansion of
communication services to schools, health facilities and other organizations
serving public needs; and e) Facilitate development of and access to a
wide range of local and relevant content.
The fund has been operationalized
this year.  
Listers may wish to comment on why we should go ahead to give free
community Open BTS telecommunication frequencies after operationalizing the USF
fund.
Prof. James Kulubi

On Monday, 2 December 2013, 10:45, Anthony Kiarie <kiarietony at gmail.com> wrote:

Good morning
The concept of Openbts has been under development and discussion for some time;
http://openbts.org/

http://rangenetworks.com/solutions/technology

One would still need transmission backhaul though

On Wed, Nov 27, 2013 at 8:55 AM, robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

Hi Listers,
>
>I recently met a group of Russian developers who have a GSM base station that sells at a tenth of the mainstream ones as it is based on open source technology.
>
>The product could have a massive impact on many of Kenya's far-flung communities as it would allow them to set up community based communication networks especially where the ARPU is too low for the commercial operators to venture.
>
>For this to work we need to provide a license free GSM frequency such as the 2.5 ghz that is used for data networks, do you know if there is such a provision in the CCK regulations?
>
>Regards
>
>
>
> 
>Robert Yawe
>KAY System Technologies Ltd
>Phoenix House, 6th Floor
>P O Box 55806 Nairobi,
 00200
>Kenya
>
>
>
>Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
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