What is the 450 MHz Alliance?

The 450 MHz Alliance is an industry association that represents the interests of the 450 MHz spectrum stakeholders. The alliance includes traditional wireless industry companies such as wireless carriers and equipment manufacturers, as well as companies representing various vertical markets for machine-to-machine communication. 

Even though the 450 MHz band is traditionally regarded as a niche band the alliance and its members strongly believe in its potential. The 450 MHz has gained relevance in the mission-critical networks market in recent years. This frequency provides wider reach, security and resilience at a reasonable cost. The 450 MHz band can support features like improved voice, data and video services with broadband, group-based push-to-voice & video and support for LTE, Cat-M and Narrowband-IoT. These features are useful in critical services such as utilities and public safety.

The objective of the 450 MHz Alliance:

• Representation in industry and regulatory bodies
• Marketing, promotion and growth of the 450 MHz band and its ecosystem
• Facilitating coordination in supply/demand of 450 MHz equipment/terminals
• Driving the economies of scale
• Taking regulatory positions
• Setting industry standards
• Support development of and advocate new business models
• Services
• Specific goal-oriented working groups
• Guidelines, processes

Image Credits: 450 MHz Alliance

450 MHz Alliance has Working Groups

The 450 MHz alliance has working groups that represent the core of its functionality and operation. These groups set their own programs with objectives toward solving specific issues as they would be much harder to resolve if they were done separately. There are currently 2 working groups:

Standards and Regulatory working group: This is an active team focused on the standards and spectrum issues in the range of 380 – 512 MHz. Members participate in standardization and regulatory bodies globally and coordinate their activities in bi-weekly teleconferences and bi-annual meetings. The team initiates Work Items, performs compatibility studies, responds to Public Consultations and monitors all relevant developments.

Technical working group: This team focuses on the supplier ecosystem in the range of 380 – 512 MHz. Members participate in providing guidelines regarding the technical requirement and solutions for the end-to-end service delivery and coordinate their activities in bi-monthly web conferences and bi-annual meetings. The group produces reports and documents for technical features, stretching for chipsets and infrastructure to SIM card solutions and devices to provide an ecosystem matching the users’ requirements.

Membership

Major companies in key industries like Nokia, Airbus, Telit, Sierra Wireless, Antenna Company etc. are members of the 450 MHz Alliance (450A). A 450A membership comes with benefits covering the entire 450 MHz value chain which include:

• Improvement in addressable market & gain sustainable competitive advantage
• Members of the 450A set the direction of 450A activities and guide the development of requirements documents based on standards available on the 450 MHz band
• 450A membership at the Board level offers the opportunity to participate in setting the priorities of 450A
• 450 MHz operators have the opportunity to contribute to the strategic planning efforts of the 450A and ensure that requirements are being prioritized to meet their needs and communicated to a broad community of vendors and equipment manufacturers. Operators also have access to 450A resources and services, for business development, regulator support, terminal device procurement and roaming
• Membership benefits for vendors include the advantage of obtaining first-hand real requirements from operators and the opportunity to interact with other vendors and manufacturers. Member networking also assists in product development and service planning efforts
• The 450A engages in proactive public relations and marketing campaigns to promote the benefits of 450 MHz band solutions and to keep the industry and media apprised of their market position and continued growth. Using media and analyst relations, articles in trade and business journals and information through the website, emails, events and targeted mailings, the 450A delivers a consistent message regarding the successes, capabilities and evolution of the 450 MHz industry
• As a key part of the marketing initiative, the 450A hosts conferences around the world and forums online. Member companies participate in these events to reach large audiences

The 450 MHz Alliance brings together carriers, spectrum owners as well as equipment, terminal and solution vendors to drive the development of mobile networks in the 450 MHz frequency band worldwide. It is the only industry association addressing the needs of the 450 MHz ecosystems.

Click here to visit the official 450 MHz Alliance website.

Click here for the Member Access Registration form.