Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones

THE IFT SUBMITS ELEMENTS ON SPECTRUM EFFICIENCY MEASUREMENT
TO PUBLIC CONSULTATION

• The process seeks to obtain the opinion of the industry, the academy, public entities, specialized technical associations and any other persons interested in the efficient use of the radio spectrum in Mexico.
• Establishing the Spectrum Efficiency Metrics is a mechanism to evaluate it, from which objective numeric indicators are obtained to evaluate the efficiency level in the use of this resource to provide certain telecommunications and broadcasting services.
• The public consultation will be made in Spanish and English, to encourage national and international participation.

The Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) opened a public consultation process to collect opinions, comments and contributions from the industry, the academy and any other interested party, on the elements to be considered to develop Spectrum Efficiency Metrics (SEM).

One of the objectives and tasks of the Institute is to ensure the optimum use, enjoyment and exploitation of the radio spectrum, so it is essential to manage this resource rationally and to avoid its underutilization.

In this sense, it is necessary to have mechanisms to establish the usage level of the spectrum from an efficiency point of view.

Therefore, the Radio Spectrum Unit prepared a reference document called “Spectrum Efficiency Measurement. Definitions and considerations to be observed for its application in Mexico”, which provides contextual information to support the completion of the public consultation participation form, which will be available in the web portal of the IFT from December 3, 2018 to January 29, 2019.

In terms of the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law (LFTR), the Institute shall establish spectrum efficiency metrics, which will be mandatory, as well as the measurement methodologies to evaluate it.

To this purpose, various elements affecting the exploitation of the radio spectrum shall be weighted, such as the physical propagation properties of the frequency bands for the provision of radiocommunication services; the technical characteristics of the deployed networks (antennae, transmitters, receptors, media access techniques, used technology, among others); as well as the regulatory conditions under which general interest public telecommunications and broadcasting services are provided.

In this context, a mechanism to evaluate the efficient use of the radio spectrum is by establishing the SEM, from which objective numeric indicators are obtained, to evaluate level with which this resource is being used to provide certain telecommunications and broadcasting services.

However, prior to establishing the SEM, it is necessary to define and delimit the concept of efficiency when referred to the radio spectrum, determine the mechanisms to measure spectrum efficiency, the parameters and elements that shall be considered and how to parametrize the results of the application of the metrics.

Submitting to public consultation the elements of the SEM is aimed, among other things, at the generation of an open and inclusive space involving all stakeholders, and to obtain the opinions of possible interested parties on the efficient use of the radio spectrum in Mexico. Their participation will constitute a valuable input for future actions to be performed by the IFT relating to the preparation and application of the metrics.

The public consultation will be available in the Institute’s web portal, in Spanish and English, at: https://www.ift.org.mx/industria/consultas-publicas/consultas-publicas-en-proceso.