NZ Herald mistakes yet again
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10393515'
"Woosh - whose chief executive Bob Smith resigned yesterday - said it had secured rights for more than 2.3 gigahertz of spectrum owned by Sky, which would enable the provision of internet television on its wireless network throughout the country."
For the record the spectrum Woosh have secured is in the 2.3GHz band. I believe sky owned around 10 or 15MHz of 2.3GHz spectrum therefore the story should say "10MHz of 2.3GHz spectrum owned by Sky"
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Comment by juha, on 29-Jul-2006 11:57 , user id: 16775)
I'm actually behind the MED on this one. For starters, the 2.3GHz spectrum was allocated in 1990. That was over 16 years ago, and nobody's put it to use. The MRs expire in 3.5 years time anyway.
When the MRs were sold, it was with the understanding that they'd be used surely and at this rate... well, it's just waste really.
Second, the 2.3GHz spectrum is sub-optimally configured for WiMAX use now - the MED proposes to take back the spectrum, reconfigure it three 30MHz bands which suits WiMAX deployment better, and get two of the bands auctioned off by the end of the year. Woosh can bid for MRs then, and get better-configured spectrum.
The MED proposes to hang onto the third 30MHz band for "alternative allocation", which is probably similar to the 14MHz of 3.5GHz Crown managed spectrum that was allocated recently.
Comment by juha, on 29-Jul-2006 14:16 , user id: 16775)
<blockquote>How are the MED going to deal with MR's for the 800/900 band when there could be other players interested in the spectrum?</blockquote>
Allocate it all to Tex and his bunch of merry Econetters? :)
I'm pretty sure that if the MRs are being recalled and then reissued later this year, they won't expire in 2010 - if that's what you mean. That's the other thing though... Woosh has only two MRs in that band, and even if it was allowed to keep them, and they were renewed in 2010, there would have to be a guarantee that the others managed by Telecom and Sky were too.
I reckon if Woosh had a trial network running now using equipment operating in that spectrum, the government might let it carry on. Now there's nothing, only a loss-making ISP without a good technology track record and whose CEO has just scarpered. 
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Comment by juha, on 29-Jul-2006 09:59 , user id: 16775)
SBIDDLE MAKES A MISTAKE AGAIN! :)
Just kidding - MR7 is 8MHz only, between 2,332-2,340MHz.
Interestingly enough, the MR is still with Sky TV.
Telecom has 8 MRs, Woosh 2, Sky and BCL 1 each. That's 12*8 MHz, or 96MHz in total. Woosh apparently got access to 30MHz from Telecom, but that might be a misprint... maybe 40MHz (5 8MHz bands). With the two it has now, plus one from Sky, that's 64MHZ in total to play with.
Seems a shame to let all that sit in the hands of organisations intent not on using it...