WRC-12 - results of fourth week

Held in Geneva, Switzerland from 23 January to 17 February 2012, the World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 (WRC-12) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has concluded. Conference proceedings were drawn to a close with the signing of the Final Acts of WRC-12 by the 165 representatives attending from 193 ITU Member States.

During the fourth week of the conference, meetings of the technical committees were concluded and the final results were presented, revised (in some cases) and approved in the final plenary sessions. Compromise solutions were agreed on the following topics:

- With respect to convergence of terrestrial services, it was agreed not to move forward with amendments to fixed service, fixed station and mobile station definitions. However, it was agreed to proceed with a new resolution to study these changes and their potential impact over the course of the next 3 years, in the context of the study groups of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R).  It was also agreed  to update the text of Recommendation 34 (WRC-95) on the principles for the allocation of frequency bands (agenda item 1.2);

- Almost at the beginning of the conference's last week , Europe - through the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) - reached a compromise with the other regional organizations - Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL), Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications (RCC), Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT), Arab League, African Telecommunications Union (ATU) - on a joint solution for agenda items 1.3 (unmanned aircraft systems ), 1.4 (aeronautical systems) and 1.21 (radiolocation). The CEPT will drop the proposal for AM(R)S at 15 GHz (item 1.4), accept the allocation of 300 MHz at 15 GHz for the radiolocation service (item 1.21) and in return, it would be guaranteed that no alteration would be made in the 5000 - 5030 MHz band (item 1.3). Accordingly:

• Under point 1.3 of the agenda, approval was given to the allocation of the 5030-5091 MHz band to the terrestrial component. For the satellite component, a resolution was approved to conduct studies on the use, by these applications, of the bands and satellites of the fixed-satellite service;
   
• Agenda item 1.4, in addition to the allocation of spectrum at 112-117.975 MHz and the regulatory framework applicable to the 960-1164 MHz band, saw approval of the suppression of Resolution 420 on the use of the 5000-5150 MHz band for AM(R)S;
   
• Under agenda item 1.21, 300 MHz was assigned in the 15.4 to 15.7 GHz band to the radiolocation service;

- A revision was made of Resolution 222 on the mobile-satellite service at 1525-1559 MHz and 1626.5 - 1660.5 MHz, which includes procedures on how to implement No. 5.357A of the Radio Regulations (RR), on access to spectrum by the aeronautical mobile-satellite service (R) in the generic bands of the mobile-satellite service. Approval was also given to a new resolution on the development of methodology to be used in calculating the spectrum requirements for the aeronautical mobile-satellite service (R) in the 1545-1555 MHz frequency bands (space-Earth) and 1646.5 to 1656.5 MHz band (Earth-space) (agenda item 1.7);

- Approval of the revision of appendix 17 (Maritime Mobile Service) with a new channelization arrangement with 3 kHz channels and freeing some parts from channelization. WRC-12 accepted Europe's proposal to free up block 7 and to create several bands freed from channelization at 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 18/19, 22 and 25/26 MHz, which can be used in future by new digital technologies. However, the European proposal that the transition period for implementation of these new technologies should end in 2015 was not upheld, and Europe had to accept an extension to the  transition period, with an implementation date in 2017 (agenda item 1.9);

-  Approval of the assignment of the 154-156 MHz band to the radiolocation service for certain countries of Region 1 (Europe and Africa) and Region 3 (Asia), with protection of fixed and mobile services ensured by provision of RR 9.21. Approval was also given to a footnote on the protection of the maritime mobile service (for safety related applications), in accordance with Europe's proposal (agenda item 1.14);

- Discussions on the 790-862 MHz band were concluded, particularly with regard to footnotes 5.316 and 5316A, related to the assignment of 790-862 MHz to the mobile service (except aeronautical mobile) until June 2015. It was concluded that only note 5.316A will be changed, specifically with the inclusion of some countries in this provision. Note 5312 (on the possibility of operating aeronautical radionavigation systems) has not been changed, although it had been Algeria's intention to be included in this note (agenda item 1.17);

- Following the proposal of the African/Arab regional groups on the possibility of extending the allocation to the mobile service below 790 MHz ¹, compromise was reached after a lot of discussions at Region 1 level, identifying 694-790 MHz for the mobile service only in 2015, subject, however, to the application of a WRC-12 Resolution, which assigns various studies to ITU-R, in particular on the compatibility between the various radio services involved and on estimates of the amount of spectrum required for the mobile and broadcasting service in the short term;

- A compromise was reached between the various parties in relation to Cognitive Radio Systems (CRS) in terms of advancing with a WRC Recommendation that addresses the implementation and use of CRS. Accordingly, the issue will be considered at the next WRC (agenda item 1.19);

- An agenda proposal for the next World Radiocommunication Conference, WRC-15, was approved with regard to spectrum for mobile / IMT, broadband public protection and disaster relief (PPDR), amateur, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), fixed-satellite, maritime mobile-satellite, mobile-satellite, satellite earth exploration, automatic identification system (AIS) technology, wireless avionics intra-communications (WAIC) and radiolocation (agenda item 8.2).

The first preparatory meeting for WRC-15 - CPM15-1 - will have an important role in the organization and coordination of preparatory studies for the next WRC, identifying the working groups of the ITU-R which will focus on preparation of WRC- 15 and the structure of the report to be considered in the second preparatory meeting for WRC-15.

Consult:

• World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 (WRC-12) https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1041099