The 28th meeting of the Electronic Communications Committee was held last 7-11 March in Porto, attended by 77 participants representing 31 administrations, the European Commission, the European Communications Office (ECO) and nine observers.
The following decisions stand out among subjects considered at the Committee's meeting:
- Approval of amended Decision ECC/DEC/(02)09 on "Free circulation and use of GSM-R mobile terminals operating within the frequency bands 876-880 MHz and 921-925 MHz for railway purposes in CEPT countries, enlarging the field of application of ERC/DEC/(95)01". A total of 20 administrations, including Portugal, indicated their intention to apply this decision. Cyprus and Iceland indicated their intention to not implement the decision;
- Final approval of amended Decision ECC/DEC/(02)10 "Exemption from individual licensing of GSM-R mobile terminals operating within the frequency bands 876-880 MHz and 921-925 MHz for railway purposes". A total of 21 administrations, including Portugal, indicated their intention to apply this decision. Cyprus and Iceland indicated that they did not intend to implement the decision;
- Approval of the new Decision ECC/DEC/(11)AA on "The protection of the Earth exploration satellite service (passive) in the 1400-1427 MHz band". A total of 18 administrations, including Portugal, indicated their intention to apply this decision. The Russian Federation indicated that it would not implement the decision and the United Kingdom stated that it would be hard for it to do so. Sweden and Lithuania presented written statements contesting the need for the decision, as they considered that Resolution 750 (WRC-07) should be the basis for protection of EESS services in the 1400-1427 MHz bands;
- Approval of the new Decision ECC/DEC/(11)BB on "Industrial Level Probing Radars (LPR) operating in frequency bands 6-8.5 GHz, 24.05-26.5 GHz, 57-64 GHz and 75-85 GHz". A total of 19 administrations, including Portugal, indicated their intention to apply this decision. The Russian Federation indicated that it intends to implement the decision but that it will not be in conditions to do so for two or three years;
- Final approval of CEPT Report no. 38 in response to the permanent mandate from the European Comission on SRD Short Range Devices (2010 version). The report will be published by the ECO and forwarded to the EC.
Highlights of the remaining material discussed at this meeting include the following:
- The WG RA proposal to develop a generic and technologically neutral decision applicable to all mobile terminals (GSM, UMTS, IMT) operating in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands, to replace Decisions (97)11, (98)20 and (98)21, was approved. Sweden suggested going slightly farther, developing a decision that covered all terrestrial terminals operating under the control of a network. It was decided that WG RA should investigate the pertinence of the Swedish proposal;
- The Numbering and Networks working group (WG NaN) reported the results of its first meeting, held in Luxembourg in November 2010, where it agreed to begin the process of revoking the three ECC decisions on the European Telephony Numbering Space (ETNS), bearing in mind that ITU-T claimed the ETNS code +3883 on 31 December 2010. The ECO should draw up a new draft decision to be debated at the May WG NaN meeting. The plenary session endorsed the proposal. The ECC also approved the proposal to mandate WG NaN to prepare a draft recommendation on the use and reservation of 11X numbering resources, identifying the 11X numbering resources already in use for discussion at the next WG NaN meeting. Portugal submitted reservations to the initiative (as the United Kingdom had done) by means of a written statement.
The ECC decided to charge ECC PT1 with presenting at the next Committee meeting the proposed decision on "Harmonised frequency arrangements for MFCN in the 3.4-3.8 GHz band", as well as the contribution to present to ITU working group 5D.
Regarding comments received in the public consultation phase for ECC Report 159 on "White Space devices on the in the 470-790 MHz band", the Committee decided that in the scope of the ECC a study should not be produced on cognitive radio systems' potential impact on cable services. But the various ECC groups involved in this matter should provide all necessary collaboration to both ETSI and CENELEC.
The proposal by the Frequency Management working group (WG FM) to eliminate Decisions ERC/DEC/(96)02 and (98)11 concerning CBs was approved, given that a new decision on the matter has been developed. Likewise approved were Decisions ERC/DEC/(98)16, ERC/DEC/(01)02, ERC/DEC/(01)03, ERC/DEC/(01)07, ERC/DEC/(01)10 and ERC/DEC/(01)16, since they are included in Recommendation 70-03 and in the EC Decision on SRDs. WG FM was charged with developing suitable procedures.
ECC TG5 chairman Philippe Horisberger of Switzerland reported about the work undertaken by the ECC Structure task group at its two meetings, held in December (Biel) and February (Paris).
TG5 met for the second time in Paris in the afternoon of 8 February, with the unsuccessful recourse to means of virtual participation. The gathering served to debate ideas about ways to improve the efficiency of the ECC's activities and the Committee's structure, but was nevertheless not very conclusive. After the mid-term report given here, the conclusions of the ongoing process of revising the ECC structure will be presented in June. The group's next meeting was scheduled for 7-8 April in Biel.
The Committee concluded after consulting industry and other stakeholders that there was no current interest in maintaining the CEPT Conference in its current form. If there is a counterpart event in the future, it should be organised under the ECC aegis. The Committee's position will be transmitted via a liaison statement (LS) to the ECO and to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA). The secretariat has already responded to the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications (RCC), the other respondent body.
Regarding procedural issues, the WG RA chairman (Stelios Himonas of Cyprus) informed the plenary session that the group aimed to submit a general proposal to revise the rules of procedure (RoPs) and working methods (WMs) in the scope of the regular revision done every three years. Agreement was reached that the RoPs would make reference to the ECC Strategy Plan (instead of the policy goals - Art. 10.1).
Amendments were likewise agreed upon for the ECC RoPs (article 12) and WMs (appendices 5 and 7), in order to cover established and envisaged mechanisms for co-operation between the Committee and ETSI. But given the time limits now in force, those alterations will only be formally approved at the next plenary session. Per a proposal from the WG SE chairman (Bruno Espinosa of France), the length of the public consultation period for deliverables was examined – it is sometimes considered excessive given the meeting schedule of the groups and PTs and the need to finish them promptly. The Committee agreed to reduce the public consultation period from two months to six weeks. But if necessary, the group in question can extend that six-week period.
Given that the ECC's agenda is currently less burdensome than it was in the past and that its structure includes fewer groups, agreement was reached regarding the possibility of shortening the plenary sessions to one day, preferably the first day of the meeting, a decision to apply starting in 2012.
ECO director Mark Thomas of the United Kingdom reported on ongoing communication issues deriving from recommendations approved by the CEPT Assembly, namely the topics identified for possible press releases (which may eventually include the designation of new working group chairs, the ECC decision on level probing radars, final approval of the decision on protecting passive earth exploration satellites or publication of the ECC/ETSI/EC co-ordination procedure) or the new templates for ECC deliverables and for the ECC powerpoint. The newsletter should be published three times a year, in January, May and September. The next issue should contain four base articles on the role of spectrum engineering, cognitive radio, flexible spectrum licensing, including concepts such as dynamic spectrum access and medical body area networks (MBANs). Agreement was reached for the time being not to accept contributions from industry, which can be done later, rather preferably accepting texts originating in the MoU and LoU partners. Final versions of the new material will be approved by correspondence or at the next think tank in May. The director also reported that the launch of the new ECO website should take place in April 2011, after a trial phase to be conducted by the group chairs, which means a further delay of three months.
Following up the ECC Strategy Plan, the Committee took note of the ECO's contacts with relevant sector-related research institutions and universities in the area of spectrum management, which began in September 2010. At http://www.ero.dk/Researchhttp://www.ero.dk/Research a classification of projects deemed to be priorities is proposed, based on four categories and with respect to the ECC's working programme, regarding which the plenary session commented.
The ECO director also presented the latest edition of the Office's bulletin, summarising sector developments, especially in the USA and the Asia-Pacific region, namely regarding Direct Air-to-Ground Communications, Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR), Cognitive Radio, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), Short Range Radars (SRR), Mediaflow, UHF RFID and regional seminars on IMT in the coming decade.
The plenary session agreed with the proposals to sign letters of understanding (LE) between the ECC and Broadband Network Europe (BNE), and with the Femto Forum (domestic base stations). Agreement was also reached to revise the LoU in force with the EUMETNET (Network of European Meteorological Services - a European network of 26 national weather services, including Portugal), which reflects the organisation's new structure. A presentation was also given on the concept of authorised shared access (ASA), by Nokia/Qualcomm.
Note also that the ECC vice-chairman (Geir Sundal of Norway) and the WG FM chairman (Sergey Pastukh of the Russian Federation) were appointed by acclamation to a second three-year term. The current WG RA chairman, whose term ends in September, announced that his administration is considering putting him forward as a candidate for the ECC vice-chairmanship.
The next ECC plenary session will be held in Split, Croatia, on 20-24 June 2011.
