Compatibility Of Services Using WiMAX Technology With Satellite Services In The 2.3 To 2.7 GHz And 3.3 To 3.8 GHz Bands

By the WiMAX Forum

WiMAX system profiles currently consider use of the frequency bands 2.3 to 2.7 GHz and 3.3 to 3.8 GHz which also have ITU frequency allocations for satellite services. The Regulatory Working Group of the WiMAX Forum® set up a sub-team to address the compatibility of these services following recent activity in several national and international fora.

The purpose of this white paper is to provide the WiMAX Forum with the background to the satellite-related issues that relate to co-existence with wireless access services in the two bands and address the interference scenarios that can occur. The document provides examples of the regulatory framework by which coordination of the satellite services with terrestrial services is, or will be, effected in certain countries and the corresponding guidelines as to how wireless access systems and satellite services are able to co-exist and assessments of the methods by which coexistence can be more easily accomplished.

All of this is done from a worldwide perspective, drawing on information from global, regional and national sources.

In the 2.5 to 2.69 GHz portion of the lower of the two bands, much of the related work is currently underway in the ITU-R (Joint Task Group JTG 6-8-9 has finished its work and the next phase will be at the Conference Preparatory Meeting and World Radiocommunications Conference in 2007). This work has addressed co-existence between terrestrial wireless access systems and the satellite services which have allocations in the band and this report only provides a summary of the current status of this ongoing work. The interference that may arise into receiving earth stations in the 2500 to 2690 MHz band is not covered in this report. Sharing between WiMAX systems and satellite services on a co-channel basis in the same geographical area is likely to be difficult anywhere in the 2.3 to 2.7 GHz band and coordination of such services will be a national matter.

In the upper of the two bands being considered (3.3 to 3.8 GHz), work is in progress in several parts of the world to make WiMAX technology available for the deployment of broadband wireless access systems and this document concentrates in depth on the sharing with the Fixed Satellite Service which has frequency allocations in this band.