The 25th meeting of the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) was held last 1-5 March in the French city of Montpellier, attended by 78 participants representing 31 administrations, the European Commission and the European Communications Office (ECO), along with seven observers.
The following decisions stand out among the subjects considered at the Committee meeting:
- Final approval of Decision ERC (99)15 on “Designation of the Harmonised Frequency Band 40.5 to 43.5 GHz for the Introduction of Multimedia Wireless Systems (WMS) and Point-to-Point (P-P) Fixed Wireless Systems”, with 17 administrations expressing their intention to implement same;
- Approval, forwarding for public consultation and preliminary forwarding to the European Commission (EC) of CEPT Report no. 37, in response to Part 2 of the EC Mandate on Short Range Radars (SRR). Note also the fact that Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Portugal, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Norway associated themselves in Statements against adopting a solution in the 26 GHz band for SRR systems, calling rather for allocation of the 79 GHz band or a limited extension of the cut-off date for use of the 24 GHz band;
- Approval, forwarding for public consultation and preliminary forwarding to the Commission of CEPT Report no. 39, in response to the EC Mandate on the 2 GHz band;
- Approval and forwarding for public consultation of ECC Report no. 148 on “Measurements on the Performance of DVB-T Receivers in the Presence of Interference from the Mobile Service (especially from LTE)”. TG4 was also mandate to proceed with final approval of this report, after considering results of the consultation.
The final approval was discussed of CEPT Report no. 36, in response to Part 1 of the EC Mandate on SRR and based on results of the public consultation. But given the lack of consensus between the administrations over some points and that this Report is associated to questions that are still open in the scope of the response to Part 2, now approved for consultation, a decision was made to proceed with final approval of both reports at the next ECC meeting in June.
Also debated was approval of the amendments to ECC Decision (05)02 on “Use of the Frequency Band 169.4-169.8125 MHz”. However, as a number of doubts arose regarding the proposed channelling, a decision was made to send it to the Short Range Devices Management Group (SRD/MG) for complementary analysis.
As for the response to the EC Mandate on the 900/1800 MHz bands, the current situation was presented. But given the complex nature of this issue, the three reports that will make up that response will only be presented at the next ECC meeting, for approval for public consultation. This information was forwarded to the EC.
Regarding eventual production of a new ECC Decision in the 900/1800 MHz bands, ‘guiding principles’ were determined which should be followed by PT1 vis-à-vis deliverables to develop in those bands, with the aim of allowing new technologies such as LTE and WiMAX to coexist with GSM and UMTS.
The plenary session approved the pending chapter of the ECC Strategy Plan, renamed “Major Challenges for the next 5 Years” (previously “Midterm Goals”), which will replace the Rolling Policy Agenda and the Policy Goals. The previous plenary session had approved the Preamble to the chapter on “Policy and Action”. The ECC Strategy Plan will be subject to annual revision by the think tank.
Regarding communication and image matters, progress was also made toward approving an ECC Mission Statement, a short text that should be printed in newsletters, press releases and similar material.
The future of the CEPT Conference was also examined in this ECC. The last conference was held in Montreux in October 2009, jointly celebrating the organisation’s 50th anniversary, but posted a significant loss. A Liaison Statement was thus produced, to send to the Council of the European Communications Office (ECO), which meets in April. For the time being, the ECC defends holding an event that is eventually less ambitious but whose format requires further study.
In procedural matters, various proposals from the working group (WG) on Regulatory Affairs (RA) were debated and approved, with changes, namely Appendix 10 to the Working Methods (WM), streamlining procedures for sending direct contributions from CEPT project teams to the ITU-R working parties or task groups, and the introduction of impact assessment in the WM and Rules of Procedure (RoP). The proposal to modify article 14 of the RoP, to better explain the difference between ‘consensus’ and ‘unanimity’, was not approved by the plenary session.
The ECO director reported on the operational start-up of the new ECO Forum, with added functions, and on the Office’s new website dedicated to Electronic Working Methods (EWM). He urged the administrations and their computer departments to adopt the GotoMeeting and GoToWebinar tools.
As for the study on the ECOM reception parameters, it was decided that same, for now with ECO Study status, will be analysed by the SRD/MG. The Office should post a draft final version for consultation by the administrations in the ECO Forum and send a final version to the June plenary meeting, which will then decide on the document’s status.
A decision was made to integrate PT2 TRIS (Technical Regulation and Interconnection Standards), which reported directly to the plenary session, in the WG on Numbering Names and Addressing (NNA); the latter should present the group’s proposed new terms of reference at the next plenary session.
The United Kingdom gave a presentation on preparations for the 2012 London Olympic Games, especially focusing on issues affecting spectrum management.
The Chairman of the Frequency Management WG reported that participation in the seminar on Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) systems scheduled for 11-12 March in the German city of Mainz was to be on a first come first served basis due to a shortage of available seating.
Given that the mandates of the current chairs are ending, processes to seek chairs for WG NNA and the Spectrum Engineering WG will soon begin.
The next ECC plenary session will be held on 21-25 June 2010 in Baden, Switzerland.
