Wireless and Satellite Telecommunications The Technology, the Market & the Regulations

The purpose of this book is to provide an in-depth, up-to-date, and comprehensive understanding of wireless and satellite telecommunications. This means a presentation on wireless technology, on emerging wireless markets, on key regulatory policies, as well as on services and applications in the field. Unlike most books in this field, the main focus is not on technology. The objective is, in fact, to present only that technology that is sufficient to define the market and regulatory aspects of the field of wireless and satellite telecommunications. This still means, however, exploring the basic technologies involved with satellites, licensed and unlicensed cellular radio, over-the-air radio and television broadcasting, specialized mobile radio (SMR) services, high-tier and low-tier personal communications service (including unlicensed PCS), wireless LANs and PABXs, microwave relay, terrestrial cellular television, and infrared bus wireless services. In this respect, this technological overview will explore wireless and satellite telecommunications as it operates today and as it is to function tomorrow. This book gives special attention to cellular telecommunications and satellites, but for the sake of economical word usage the general phrase "wireless" will be used throughout the book. An attempt will be made, however, to define the context and which special element of the very broad wireless and satellite field is indeed meant. The key issues and concepts needed to plan, design, receive regulatory approval for, and actually implement wireless telecommunications systems will thus receive primary emphasis. More technical texts will thus address such issues as the optimum choice of modulation or multiplexing schemes, strategies for node interconnection of personal communications services, or coping with scintillation and multipath problems. This text does, however, provide a synoptic overview of all aspects of the field of wireless telecommunications, including markets, policy and regulation, standards, tariffs, and at least the basics of wireless and satellite technology. In particular it covers such aspects as emerging U.S. markets, current management issues, and contemporary American regulatory and policy frameworks. It is essentially designed for telecommunications courses where markets and regulatory policies are more important than the technology and especially for the businessman, attorney, or other non-engineers, who are just entering this complex and exciting field. The goals of this book are thus to be both up-to-date concerning the latest developments in the field of wireless communications as well as to be very practically oriented. This means placing special emphasis on the licensing process, on frequency allocations, and on how a new start-up venture might be initiated in this field. This in turn means addressing how official filings are made for wireless systems, how petitions are made within rule- making procedures and what criteria are used to decide upon competitive applications. This will also include exploring the implications of the new frequency auctioning procedures in the United States and related frequency allocation and regulatory issues in other countries. The international implications of the "auctioning" of frequencies will likely become better known during the World Administration Radio Conference in 1995. Key national, regional, and international standards will likewise be explored although the primary focus will be on the United States. Virtually all existing and future wireless services will be addressed to some degree, both in terms of the market trends and future service development. This book thus covers a very wide range of subjects from satellites to cellular and more generally from today's wireless LANs to future microcellular and picocellular services and so-called Universal Personal Telecommunications Services. Although the primary focus will be oPelton, Joseph N. is the author of 'Wireless and Satellite Telecommunications The Technology, the Market & the Regulations', published 1995 under ISBN 9780131404939 and ISBN 0131404938.