Radcomms 2013: 4G and beyond

Sydney is gearing up for ACMA’s annual spectrum conference, Radcomms, to be held from 2-3 October at the Australian National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour.

The event will see speakers from around Australia and overseas discussing issues of prime importance to all radio spectrum users, including ‘How is spectrum valued?’; ‘Is there a spectrum crunch?’; and ‘Innovations in spectrum use’.

Day one of the conference - the theme of which is ‘Is the spectrum value debate settled?’ - will commence with an opening address to be given by Chris Chapman, CEO of ACMA and an industry professional with a long pedigree in media, broadcasting and telecommunications. This will be followed by the conference’s keynote speech, which will be presented by Dr Jeff Cole, Director and Research Professor, Centre for the Digital Future, University of Southern California Annenberg.

Philip Bates, Director at Analysys Masson, will introduce the first session, which will look at the recent 700 MHz ban auction and discuss why not all of the spectrum was taken up by industry. (Does this require a rethink of expected demand? How can the needs of incumbent and emerging users be balanced?) Speakers in the first session will include Håkan Ohlsén, Director, Spectrum & Radio Technology Strategy, Ericsson; David Ball, Chief Technology Officer, NewSat; Chris Althaus, CEO, Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA); and Rob Fitzpatrick, Director, Infrastructure and Transport Logistics, NICTA.

Session two - ‘What is the spectrum value proposition?’ - will include presentations by Phil Manners, Director, Centre for International Economics; Ian Harvey, Executive Officer, Australian Commercial & Entertainment Technologies Association (ACETA) and Executive Director, Australian Wireless Audio Group (AWAG); Mark Burgess, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Police Federation; and Stephen King, Professor, Department of Economics, Monash University.

Session three will look at policy and regulatory settings for responding to changes in spectrum usage. Speakers will include Drew Clarke, Secretary, Department of Communications; and Chris Cheah, Full-time Authority Member, ACMA.

Day two will be devoted to the theme ‘Maintaining the momentum - first principles thinking’. The first session of the day (session four of the conference) will look at issues facing the television broadcast industry, including challenges and opportunities arising from new delivery platforms.

Session five will be of particular interest as it will tackle the question of finding innovative ways to use the spectrum, including whitespace and spectrum sharing. Speakers will include Darrin M Mylet, Business Operations & Regulatory Affairs, Adaptrum; Chris Hose, Executive Manager, Spectrum Planning and Engineering Branch, Communications Infrastructure Division, ACMA; Stephen Hanly, Professor, Department of Engineering, Macquarie University; and Tom Power, Office of Science and Technology Policy, the White House, USA (presenting via Skype).

The final session - 'Where to from here?' - will look at practicalities and, in particular, at what ACMA is doing to set the agenda for spectrum usage. Speakers will include David Brumfield, Executive Manager, Radiocommunications Policy Branch, Communications Infrastructure Division, ACMA; Mark Loney, Executive Manager, Operations and Services Branch, Communications Infrastructure Division, ACMA; and Maureen Cahill, General Manager, Communications Infrastructure Division, ACMA. The conference wrap-up presentation will be given by Richard Bean, Deputy Chair of ACMA.

Full details are available on the Radcomms website.