Broadcast Licence Needed For Installing Wifi Tower?

[QuadCore]

Hey Everyone.

I have a small company doing wireless internet installs in our customers houses.

One of my customers owns a lot of land and has several clusters of houses over a big area.

The best way of supplying wireless internet to these houses is using a 30 metre-tall tower with several sectored-omni high powered omni-antenna's.

The only problem is leakage. This tower will certainly kick-out a lot of radiowaves which will travel for miles.

Does anyone know what the laws are here in Thailand about doing this sort of thing. Back home the authorities would have a field day with me if I put something like this up.

Would I need a licence to do this?... Obviously the tower is outside and not in anyone's home!

Thanks.

Quad.

[gjones]

Hi Quad

Taxin government had enacted the following laws which have significantly affected the telecoms sector-the Organization for Wave Frequency Allocation and Supervision of Radio Broadcasting Business, Television Business and Telecommunication Business (2000), or Organization Act, and Telecommunication Business Operation Act (2001).

These two laws set forth the framework and duties of a new government body to regulate Wi Fi as well as other telecommunications activities in Thailand. This body is to be called the National Telecommunications Commission or NTC. Among the prescribed duties of the NTC is issuing licenses and setting forth standards for telecoms companies.

wesite - http://eng.ntc.or.th/

contact

National Telecommunications Commission

87 Phaholyotin rd. Soi 8

Phayatai Bangkok 10400

Tel: 0-2271 3511

Fax: 0-2290 5240

Email: prnews @ ntc.or.th

Good luck

GJ

[QuadCore]

GJ - thanks for the information. Much appreciated!

[QuadCore]

Hmmm... looks like I need a Class III licence to do this.

I wonder what would happen if I did this without a licence and the NTC find out...

[gjones]

you might also need a planning licence or permit, but then if it's up its up, and the officials seems to live with the idea and retrospectivly agree to it. Thats why a lot of structures are buit during the weekends but then as a guest here in LOS I like to keep within the law

[monty]

Basically home use wifi is limited to indoor use, and more importantly, the maximum EIRP (effectively radiated power) is set at 20dBm (or 100 mW equiv.).

Most accesspoints have a power output of between 12 and 15 dBm, some of them even 18 dBm (Linksys wrt54G).

Since the EIRP is the sum of the output of the accesspoint and the gain of the antenna, means that for example with the 18 dBm linksys, you can only use a 2dBm gain antenna to stay within the 20dBm limit (18+2=20). Most rubber duck omni antenna's are exactly 2dBm for that reason!

The lower powered access points (d-link for example) allow to use 5 dBm gain antenna's and still stay within the 20dBm limit (15 dBm + 5 dBm = 20 dBm)

Effectively, hooking up a 12 dBm Yagi antenna to your 15dBm access point renders your installation illegal since your EIRP is now up to 27dBm!

So yep, your tower would be illegal, first it's out doors, secondly most patch antenna's have a gain of 5 dBm or more, so most likely you'll breach the 20 dBm EIRP rule as well...

[QuadCore]

I already have something in place at another residence to do a couple of houses.

I'm using a modified Linksys WRT54GL that is outputting 84mW of power coupled to a 21dbi Panel.

How do I work the EIRP of that out?...

Monty - do you work in Wireless?...

[Prasert]

I have several outdoor accesspoints running, covering quite a large area. The law allows a maximum EIRP of 20dBm, which is exactly as Monty described, but the calculation is done by adding the antenna gain to the output power of the accesspoint, minus the loss of the coaxial cable and the connectors used.

As long as you stay within that limit, you can legally install outdoor equipment. Thailand regulations are a direct copy of Europian regulations (excluding the very limited regulations of France).

[gregb]

You are correct. You will require a Type III license to do this. It's not even worth considering this approach.

As has been mentioned, the 100 mW EIRP is the key consideration for a private installation. As long as it is on private property or a campus, you can use 2.4 GHz frequency without an issue by respecting this rule.

Please keep in mind that you can use a large antenna as a receiver, but not as a transmitter unless you simultaneously lower the output power of your amplifier to keep under the limit. This is only useful in a point to point setup however.

In an outdoor roaming setting as you imply, a single tower is not a practical soultion for the Thai regulations. You need to setup a mesh.

[astral]

National Telecommunications Commission

Is that the old PT&T?

It looks like their address.

[gjones]

National Telecommunications Commission

Is that the old PT&T?

It looks like their address.

Yes you are right, Astral the Post and Telegraph Department was taken over 2003 or 2004 can't remember which month and I think the penalty for operating illegally without a license ranges from 100,000 Baht to 1 million Baht and 2 years imprisonment but it could have all changed by now.

PT&T were a funny lot, they controlled all communications equipment from mobile phones to satellite uplinks and even uhf radio mics; they were not only licensed but strictly controlled and difficult for most of us to bring into LOS unles you were a spook frequenting Washington square

However the current Law circulates around the Radio communications Act (1955) The

06 March 2006 Radio Frequency & Broadcasting is still unwritten

The main points on the 1955 act is

• The frequency band of radio communication equipment to used shall be within 2400-2500 MHz and the Effective Radiated Power (ERP) shall not exceed 100 milliwatts;

• The radio communication equipment to be used shall be the one which has been type-approved by the Post and Telegraph Department;

• The user shall have a license for possessing or using the radio communication equipment or installing a radio communication station, as the case may be;

• The use of such radio communication equipment cannot claim protection from harmful interference. In case its use causes harmful interference to other licensed radio communication networks, the use of such equipment shall be ceased immediately;

• Any connection or modification of an antenna or other equipment to such radio communication equipment for the purpose of increasing its ERP to exceed 100 milliwatts is prohibited;

• Using such radio communication equipment outside the building or connecting it to public communication network is prohibited.

Now the big question is, does wireless fidelity come into this bracket and I think until the new law is written then anything goes. (best to ask a Lawyer)

TELECOMMUNICATIONS BUSINESS ACT,

B.E. 2544 (2001)

Again nothing on wireless fidelity

Edited October 26, 2007 by gjones