S T R A T E G I C

W H I T E

P A P E R

White Spaces and Mobile Communications

Unleashing the full potential of the mobile Internet
To support the continuing growth of data traffic on mobile networks and offset the
increasing strain all this traffic is placing on those networks, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has made unused wireless TV spectrum (commonly referred to as
white spaces) available for open, free and unlicensed use. As a result of this regulatory
change, it is expected that anyone can become a wireless Internet provider, users will see
new, inexpensive or free Wi-Fi -like services emerging, and suppliers will see new customers coming from sources other than traditional operator markets. This new environment requires a rich and complete ecosystem that can provide the supplier expertise and
services for new equipment support, distribution methodology, and customer billing and
payment, which will enable seamless and profitable white spaces use and operation.

Table of contents
1

Changing the Mobile Internet

White spaces will change the mobile market

The Value of White Spaces

White spaces are in the most valuable radio spectrum range

Establishing a full white spaces ecosystem

Engineering seamless, national white spaces coverage

White spaces networks as a cloud service

Conclusion

Acronyms

References

Authors

Changing the Mobile Internet

The most obvious reality mobile service providers face as they develop long term strategies for their
networks and their business is that mobile data traffic will continue to grow exponentially. This
reality is based on the simple fact that end users have developed an insatiable appetite for advanced
applications, services and infotainment that can be accessed anywhere and at any time. Plus, that
appetite is enabled by the ongoing proliferation of mobile devices that make accessing anything and
everything an easier process while on the go.
For example, reports from the U.S. show that almost a quarter of households have smartphones that
allow them to watch video wherever they are, and year over year growth of mobile online video
viewing has reached 51.2 percent.1 Mobile service providers can expect that this trend will continue
to increase as more powerful smartphones are released and adopted by end users.
In fact, it is expected more end users will shift to smartphones as more advanced devices are made
available. Yankee Group market studies indicate that between 50 and 60 percent of respondents are
likely or highly likely to purchase a smartphone as their next device.2 Meanwhile, Ovum projects
end user demand will cause smartphone shipments to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate
(CAGR) of 21 percent between 2009 and 2015.3 As a result, Yankee Group estimates that the
proportion of data network traffic on mobile networks from smartphone devices will increase
from 18.5 to 56 percent between 2009 and 2015.4
But data traffic from smartphones is only the crest of the data tsunami that is expected to hit mobile networks. Sales of advanced portable PCs, netbooks, tablets, e-book readers, and portable gaming machines are surprisingly brisk in a crowded market because, in one way or another, they fulfill
a demand for an enriched mobile experience. All these devices will have a considerable impact on
mobile networks.
For example, a large proportion of wireless end users, especially where 3G and 4G technologies are
deployed, will be using smartphones, which are expected to generate approximately five times more
traffic than feature phones, while netbooks are expected to generate more than 10 times the data
traffic of a smartphone.5 In addition, factor in that eventually any wireless-enabled device, from
e-readers to gaming consoles, may be able to interact with everything and anything via Near Field
Communications (NFC) technology, thereby generating additional traffic. Therefore, mobile operators can expect that the demands on their networks will be staggering.
Operators are already feeling the data traffic crunch. Verizon, for example, reports that between
2005 and 2009, it experienced a 247 percent yearly growth rate of data traffic over its wireless
network and that data accounted for 44.3 percent of all network traffic.
As data traffic continues to grow, mobile operators will be forced to consume vast quantities of
spectrum and infrastructure at the lowest cost to avoid losing customers who will seek out alternate
networks to satisfy their connectivity needs. As a result, some operators are already looking at ways
to offset the increasing strain all this data traffic is placing on their mobile networks. AT&T, for
example, recently announced the expansion of its Wi-Fi offload project to ease the burden on its
3G mobile broadband network. The company has also joined Verizon and other key operators in
the Wireless Broadband Alliance, a group promoting interoperability between mobile operator
Wi-Fi networks.

1
2
3
4
5

Television, Internet and Mobile Usage in the U.S.; Three Screen Report: Volume 8, 1st Quarter 2010, Nielsen, June 2010.
Anywhere Consumer: 2009 U.S. Survey Suite, Wave 1-12, Yankee Group, 2009.
Global Mobile Market Outlook: 2010-15, Ovum, July 2010.
Surviving the Mobile Data Revenue Roller Coaster, Yankee Group, 2010.
Alcatel-Lucent analysis of mobile data market trends.

White Spaces and Mobile Communications | Strategic White Paper

White spaces will change the mobile market

To support the continuing growth of data traffic on mobile networks, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has made unused wireless TV spectrum (commonly referred to as white
spaces) available for open, free and unlicensed use. As a result of this regulatory change, it is
expected that:
Anyone can become a wireless Internet provider serving both commercial and retail users, and
traditional operators will feel increased competitive pressures from new providers
Users can expect inexpensive or free Wi-Fi-like services on par with traditional 3G/4G operator
services
Suppliers will see new customers coming from sources other than traditional operator markets
The white spaces spectrum is large and in the same prime range (50MHz-698MHz) as the 700
MHz spectrum that was auctioned to operators by the FCC for $20 Billion in March 2008. Google
views white spaces as Wi-Fi on steroids and, although it is difficult to attribute value to regulatory
mandates, Microsoft estimates that the market is worth $100 Billion in equipment and applications
revenues.
As a result of the confluence of market trends, recent regulatory events and the strong demand for
new wireless services, the white spaces wireless equipment market should see, in the not-too-distant
future, increased volumes, pricing pressures, and rapid technological obsolescence similar to the
Wi-Fi market. However, unlike the Wi-Fi market, the white spaces market will most likely expand
the need for supplier expertise and services for new equipment support, distribution methodology,
and customer billing and payment systems.

The Value of White Spaces

White spaces come from the conversion to digital television. In June 2009, all analog television
broadcasts in the U.S. went digital. This freed up a substantial amount of television spectrum that
was previously used by analog transmitters. The unused spectrum is called DTV white spaces. On
September 23, 2010, the FCC voted to allow unlicensed fixed and portable access over DTV white
spaces:
Fixed access base stations can operate over the entire DTV spectrum from 50MHz-698MHz,
transmitting at a maximum power of 4W Equivalent Isotropically Radiated Power (EIRP).
Portable access devices provide Wi-Fi like coverage and can transmit at a maximum of 100mW,
with out of band emissions of -72.85dB measured in the adjacent channels with a resolution
bandwidth of 100KHz.
Fixed base stations and portable access points are expected to communicate with a white space
database to determine which channels are unused for use at any given location and time.
To avoid interference, wireless microphones operate in a safe harbor of two dedicated
TV channels.

White Spaces and Mobile Communications | Strategic White Paper

White spaces are in the most valuable radio spectrum range

The free, unlicensed white spaces spectrum ranges from 50MHz-698MHz and has extremely good
propagation characteristics. White space radios will reach much farther than current 3G/4G and
Wi-Fi radios in the higher gigahertz bands and make this spectrum attractive for providing high
bandwidth coverage at low costs.
At the moment, committees of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) are
creating standard extensions for Wi-Fi mobile white spaces use, and fixed extensions, similar to
WiMAX and Long Term Evolution (LTE).
The timing for white spaces availability could not be better. By 2014 most analysts predict that
75 percent or more of all mobile phones sold in the U.S. will be smartphones. Should this trend
materialize, the smartphone market share will reach 55 percent from approximately 30 percent
today. In addition, the average smartphone today uses 50 times the bandwidth than normal
devices, making a wireless data tsunami nearly inevitable.
This is a global trend, with mobile data traffic expected to grow at 100 percent annually. New
technologies with higher spectral efficiency, such as LTE, and additional licensed spectrum will only
reduce the pain but cannot solve the problem. On the other hand an Alcatel-Lucent study reveals
that 60-120MHz of DTV white spaces spectrum is available in several leading markets, and offers a
plethora of unused bandwidth for mobile Internet use.
Establishing a full white spaces ecosystem
Now that the FCC has finally cleared the path for the use of white spaces, Google is lobbying to
become the database administrator, and major players have started to develop products.
The broad scope of strategic interests can be divided along three dimensions:
Broadband services
Devices, software, and platform for access
Application specific services that propose to make use of the spectrum
Two major alliances, Cognea and Microsoft-Dell-Google, have already been formed to establish
standards and a full white spaces ecosystem. Therefore, it seems highly likely that a rich, full ecosystem of service providers and product vendors could grow at least as quickly as it did for Wi-Fi.
Alcatel-Lucent is committed to work with all organizations to foster a rich and complete ecosystem,
and has developed key intellectual property that will allow seamless white spaces use and operation.

White Spaces and Mobile Communications | Strategic White Paper

Engineering seamless, national white spaces coverage

Engineering seamless, national white spaces coverage must address three key issues.
First, the nature of the spectrum is very different from typical spectrums in use. The availability
of DTV white spaces spectrum varies from one geographical area to another and is fragmented in
nature. The unused white spaces spectrum could range all the way from 50MHz to 700MHz with
bits and pieces of spectrum available across the entire range (for example, 6MHz in 174MHz band,
12MHz in 500MHz band and 18MHz in 650MHz band). Therefore, white spaces infrastructure and
devices will need extra intelligence to provide seamless coverage for mobile users.
Second, white spaces infrastructure and devices must adhere to new standards that have, as yet, not
been fully developed. New standards are already emerging. The IEEE 802.22 standard addresses fixed
access. It is similar to WiMAX/LTE and can span ranges of 30 kms. It does not support mobility as
of now, and it is ideal for a variety of applications, such as rural broadband.
Finally, the white spaces infrastructure must provide for intelligent network management to mitigate interference risks and lessen costs that could be incurred by other white spaces devices in a
local serving area.
On the other hand, the IEEE 802.11af standard addresses portable access. It is an extension of the
Wi-Fi standard to white spaces and is ideal for hotspot coverage. It is expected that products will
be introduced in 2012 to address the opportunities in this space.
White spaces networks as a cloud service
By creating a national white spaces cloud network that supports these two standards and ensures
seamless interconnection to each mobile broadband operators network, operators can use white
spaces to offset the mobile data explosion and address end user demand for advanced services
and ubiquitous, low-cost access.
Alcatel-Lucent envisions a white spaces cloud architecture based on both of the emerging IEEE
white spaces standards. It satisfies geographical and application requirements, and ensures seamless coverage with mobility. This architecture is designed to address three key use-cases for a white
spaces cloud:
3G/4G off-loading, which is most likely to be prevalent in dense urban areas. This requires
Wi-Fi like hot-spots to be deployed across a city, while the second and third use cases will
require a wide area network (WAN) infrastructure. There are standardization efforts in both
of these directions in the IEEE, with the IEEE 802.11af extending the Wi-Fi protocol for
white spaces, while the IEEE 802.22 standard is similar to the WiMAX standard.
A network infrastructure for smart city applications, which could be used for applications
such as smart meter monitoring. The nature and availability of white spaces spectrum will ensure an infrastructure for white spaces that delivers bits at the lowest cost point to all locations
(for example, basements).
Delivery of rural broadband, which the IEEE 802.22 standard is primarily being developed to
address, and for which white spaces spectrum is ideal given its huge cells. Used in this way, it
can provide low-cost access in rural markets with low average revenue per user (ARPU).

White Spaces and Mobile Communications | Strategic White Paper

Figure 1. Alcatel-Lucent high level, white spaces cloud service architecture

AP/BS
Virtualization

Cross-layer optimized
stack for QoS

Network
management

Performance management
Virtualization engine
Resource planning
QoS specs
Enforcing SLA

Efficient
operation

\
SLA
negotiation

Energy saving
strategies

Handoff engine
Inter and intra
technology

Authentication
of new clients

Intelligent
caching

Interface to the operator

Predictive
planning

Fault
management
Measurements

Cloud information/
data repository

Inventory

CDN

Access points

To support this architecture, white spaces access points are optimally deployed in a specific geographic area. Depending on the area, the deployment could comprise 802.11af access points or
802.22 base stations. Each access point would be connected via a backhaul to the white spaces
database. In addition, a virtualization engine would be required at each access point to ensure
that Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for different services operate simultaneously.
Cloud database

The white spaces database maintains a variety of information, such as:

Location of each access point
Traffic load on each access point
Spectrum characteristics, such as ambient interference at each access point
Real-time client information

White Spaces and Mobile Communications | Strategic White Paper

This enables the virtualization engine in the cloud to appropriately negotiate SLAs with different
service providers and allocate the correct amount of resources to different access points so that
SLAs are met.
In addition, there is an interface to an operators network through which the operator sends requests
for data off-load. To enable efficient off-load, the operator specifies the total capacity required at a
specific point in time.
Content distribution network (CDN)

The content distribution network (CDN) in the white spaces cloud enhances the quality of service
(QoS) that can be provided. The CDN makes intelligent decisions on which content to cache and
where based on the quality of spectrum at various access points, demand at each access point and
types of devices accessing the network.
SLA negotiation engine

Both the white spaces database and the CDN are core infrastructure that supports the entire white
spaces cloud. Additional elements of the architecture reside in the cloud.
When an operator requests off-load capacity, an SLA negotiation engine queries the white spaces
cloud database engine. Based on current network conditions, the SLA negotiation engine negotiates
with the operator to arrive at the demand that can be off-loaded and the price at which this capacity is offered. This information is then fed to the network virtualization engine.
Network virtualization engine

When the SLA negotiation engine informs the network virtualization engine of the SLA agreement with an operator, the network virtualization engine first invokes the resource allocation
engine to re-allocate resources so that SLAs to all existing clients and the new client are met.
Authentication engine

When a client is off-loaded from the operators network to the white spaces cloud, the client is first
authenticated via the interface to the operator.
Handover engine

There are two types of handovers possible. First, is the inter-network handover. This occurs when
a client switches from its operators network to the white spaces cloud and vice versa. The second
type of handover is the intra-network handover, which occurs from one white spaces access point to
another as the client moves around. The handover engine ensures that both these types of handovers occur seamlessly and with no perceived loss in quality to the client.
Network management

The network management engine ensures that operating expenses, such as energy expenditures, are
minimized by intelligent switching between different pieces of the spectrum and by turning access
points off and on based on demand. Furthermore, dynamic predictive resource allocation based on
archival data ensures that SLAs of expected future demand are not violated due to unexpected current demand. Finally, the model employs automated fault management and reliability tools to ensure
that faults in the network are detected early and the system is robust to node failures.

White Spaces and Mobile Communications | Strategic White Paper

Conclusion
As a result of the confluence of market trends, recent regulatory events and the strong demand for
new wireless services, the white spaces wireless equipment market should see increased volumes,
pricing pressures, and rapid technological obsolescence similar to the Wi-Fi market. However, unlike
the Wi-Fi market, the white spaces market will most likely expand the need for supplier expertise
and services for new equipment support, distribution methodology, and customer billing and payment systems.
Alcatel-Lucent is uniquely positioned to lead this nascent market by delivering services, products
and unique business models to address the mobile data traffic explosion with white spaces solutions.
Our global services organization consults to build the right model for each operators business, integrates, develops and manages white spaces solutions.
With the Alcatel-Lucent cloud services approach, operators will be able to offload mobile traffic in an intelligent and seamless fashion, keeping customers satisfied and increasing wireless data
throughput, while decreasing capital and operational expenditures.
In addition, Alcatel-Lucent Services has created unique business arrangements globally (value-based
pricing, and revenue sharing agreements) to manage high growth networks where cost containment
and network reliability play the predominant role in determining operator financial profitability.
Our white spaces end-to-end offerings employ all of the design, algorithm, software, hardware,
and radio frequency expertise required to develop white spaces devices. And our world renowned
Bell Labs research on network stack design for DTV white spaces provides us with a head start
over any competition.
In short, Alcatel-Lucent is ready with innovative white spaces prototypes where the value of white
spaces to an operators business can clearly be demonstrated today.

Acronyms
ARPU

Average revenue per user

CAGR

Compound Annual Growth Rate

CDN

content distribution network

EIRP

Equivalent Isotropically Radiated Power

FCC

Federal Communications Commission

IEEE

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

LTE

Long Term Evolution

NFC

Near Field Communications

SLA

Service Level Agreement

WAN

wide area network

QoS

quality of service

White Spaces and Mobile Communications | Strategic White Paper

References
1. Measuring the TV White Space Available for Unlicensed Wireless Broadband, New America
Foundation and Free Press. Available at http://www.newamerica.net/publications/policy/measuring_tv_white_space_available_for_unlicensed_wireless_broadband, 2006
2. 08-260, FCC. Second Rep. and Order and Memorandum Opinion and Order. 2008.
3. IEEE 802.11af standard: http://www.ieee802.org/11/Reports/tgaf_update.htm
4. IEEE 802.22 standard: www.ieee802.org/22
5. FCC Second Memorandum Opinion and Order.: http://www.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_
Business/2010/db0923/FCC-10-174A1.pdf

Authors
Kenneth E. DePaul
Director of Innovations Services
Kenneth E. DePaul is Director of Innovations Services and a member of the Services Global Strategy Organization at Alcatel-Lucent. He has over 30 years of experience in the industry in communications, software engineering, and services, and has filed patents in communications products and
services. Kenneth holds an undergraduate degree in 1971 from Dartmouth College and a graduate
degree in 1975from the University of Massachusetts.
Markus Berg
Senior Manager Business Modeling
Markus Berg is a Senior Manager for Business Modeling in the Network Planning, Performance and
Economic Analysis team at Bell Labs. He has extensive experience in financial and risk modeling
and a technical focus on mobile technologies. He holds a Master degree in Telecommunications
from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany.
Supratim Deb
Researcher
Supratim Deb is a Researcher with Bell Labs India. Before joining Bell Labs in 2005, he was a
Post-Doctoral researcher at MIT, Cambridge, USA. Supratim has more than 30 research papers in
leading conferences and journals, and holds several patents in the area of telecommunication and
networking. He obtained his PhD in Telecommunications from the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, USA.
Vikram Srinivasan
Technical Manager
Vikram Srinivasan has been with Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs in India since 2007. His research interests are broadly in the area of wireless networks. Before joining Bell Labs, he was an Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore from 2003-2007. He has published over 40 research
papers and filed several patents. Vikram received his PhD in 2003 from the University of California
at San Diego and a ME from the Indian Institute of Science.

White Spaces and Mobile Communications | Strategic White Paper

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